Blue Jackets 6 – Canadian 3 | Not trivial, but not far

How to survive defeat without trivializing it?

Simon Olivier Lorange
The Press

The question is serious, and it is above all topical. Especially when a club is racing towards a franchise record for most games lost in a season.

This question, it is more and more difficult not to ask it. Especially after this other defeat, a 29^and in 60 minutes and a 36^and in total, including the games that required extra time. The last setback in the running, that of Sunday, it was the Columbus Blue Jackets who inflicted it on the Habs, this time by a score of 6-3.

A few hours before the game, two representatives of The Press met new Managing Director Kent Hughes. The latter mentioned several subjects, in particular that of the “fragility” of his team on the mental level. The number of defeats, of course, but even more the number of defeats by complete downgrading weighs heavily. That against the Jackets does not quite fall into this category, but that of the day before against the Oilers of Edmonton corresponded to it completely.

After yet another defeat, “no one is going to smile and accept it,” Hughes said. ” It’s normal. We are not the first team in last place where the players are not happy. »

However, a risk lurks: “There are still around forty games to play [maintenant 38]. If we lose every game and nobody wants to be in the arena, it’s not a positive environment. »

Back to the original question: how not to trivialize these defeats? At the end of the meeting, his first in 2022, Brendan Gallagher served a warning. Expectations are of course no longer the same as at the start of the season, he agreed, when making the playoffs is no longer just a crazy utopia. “But that doesn’t change the fact that we want to win games,” he said. The minute you become numb to defeat, you’re playing the wrong sport. »

Paul Byron, also a ghost, agreed. In his first game of the 2021-2022 season, he admitted having struggled to find his rhythm. But some fights in front of the net reminded us that he had lost none of his aggressiveness.

“There were times in my life when I never knew if I was playing my last game,” Byron said. You never know if someone will replace you; every day you fight for your job. […] Many legends have worn this jersey, do your best to respect the logo on the front, in every game. It’s a minimum. »

And to add: “If everyone acts like this, good days will come. »

By the end of the season, the veterans will have to lead by example, added Josh Anderson.

Fragile

So go for the will, default remedy against the trivialization of mediocrity. The flame still burns, at least among these three players.

But the fragility is very real. Squad-wise, especially in defense and in net these days. Execution-wise – look back to the two world-class turnovers by Jeff Petry and Kale Clague that made it 4-1 in the first period. And in terms of trust, of course.

If confident teams have their chance, the opposite is also true. The Blue Jackets’ fifth goal was a perfect illustration of this. After closing the gap to 4-3, the Canadian stormed the net of Joonas Korpisalo, who had to scramble to avoid the tie.

Wanting to keep the attack alive, Chris Wideman tried to venture deep into visitors’ territory, but was caught off guard. The puck went to the other side. Excess. Goal. 5-3.

We don’t blame Wideman for trying. It still becomes difficult not to be sorry for the result, which does not change.

The loss gives head coach Dominique Ducharme a feeling that he “hates”, he assured. You can therefore imagine his happiness index this season, and even more so for 21 games: his team has only won two.

The Habs will start a full week off on Monday. “After the break, we will come back and make sure we are going in the right direction,” promised the head coach.

He also felt that no one in the locker room was insensitive to the accumulation of failures. It remains to be hoped that this observation is correct. Because the promise of better days is starting to wear thin.

In details

new problems

The very, very optimistic will rejoice in the fact that the Canadiens gave the Blue Jackets nothing following lost battles in net. We remember that on Saturday, the Oilers had fun there like Ron Duguay in the hairspray aisle at the pharmacy. Except that on Sunday, the Habs still allowed six goals (five if we exclude the one in an empty net). This time, it was speed and turnovers that sank the Habs. Columbus’ first two goals, as well as Cole Sillinger’s insurance goal midway through the third period, were the result of orchestrated counterattacks in the Blue Jackets’ zone or in the neutral zone. Two others were entered on the breakaway after turnovers from Jeff Petry and Kale Clague. “We were pretty good at carrying the puck. We saw that it worked, so we continued, noted striker Patrik Laine. It paid off for us in the first half. We must remain attentive to this, note the weaknesses of the other team and exploit them. »

The most productive of 2021

It’s pretty rare that neither of the top two picks in a draft year make the jump straight to the NHL. But that’s the case this season, as Owen Power and Matty Beniers have returned to the University of Michigan. In their absence, Cole Sillinger is therefore the only member of the 2021 vintage to have spent the entire season in the NHL. Drafted in 12th place, the son of the great traveler Mike Sillinger showed that he has quite a shot of the wrists. It is indeed with this shot that he scored his fifth goal. In 39 games, he has 15 points, including 7 goals. Note also that despite his 18 years, he is employed at the center, something that some organizations are reluctant to do. “His first half of the match was correct, nothing more. But the tighter it got, the better it was, noted Blue Jackets head coach Brad Larsen. It was a big moment for him. He will become a very good player. He’s really competitive when the stakes are high. »

Reunion

It took 15 months, but Max Domi and Josh Anderson finally reconnected with their old team. It was indeed the first Canadian-Jackets duel this season, and these two teams did not face each other last year, since the matches were only intradivision. “It’s kind of weird, I think there’s only eight or nine guys left that I played with,” Anderson said after the game. The latter will quickly wish to forget this reunion; he ended his evening with a minus 4, a thankless record when you take the time to analyze the four goals scored by Columbus when he was on the ice. On the first, it was a shot that Samuel Montembault should have stopped. On the second, Jeff Petry allowed Eric Robinson to escape, while on the third, his line buzzed incessantly in the opposing zone to create the equality. The fourth was scored in an empty net. In the opposing camp, Domi was shut out, but he got a chance to score in the middle of the match.

They said

Rising

Artturi Lehkonen

With two more points, he is at 18, a good total for fourth place for the Canadiens. His superb coordination with Jake Evans in numerical inferiority gave hope to CH in the third period.

Falling

Rem Pitlick

We wondered who was going to bail on the return of Paul Byron and Brendan Gallagher. We got the answer. Cédric Paquette was left out, and after playing almost 20 minutes the day before (a career high) Rem Pitlick was limited to less than 8 minutes on Sunday.

Match number

4

For a fourth game in a row, the goalkeeper who started the game did not finish it at the Canadiens. Is it a record? At the time of publication, our research services were unable to determine this. But that’s not impressive.