Canadian 0 – Hurricanes 4 | Do them a favor

Why and how should we dissect a duel between one of the best teams in the NHL against a club in the American League? Even if we wanted to talk for hours about Thursday’s game, it would be a bit dishonest to do so.

Simon-Olivier Lorange
Press

So let’s stick to the facts: the Canadian lost 4-0 against the Carolina Hurricanes. He made a commendable even-strength effort, but special teams exposed his weaknesses. The result was three home power-play goals and another one short by a man.

The best team, on paper and on the ice, won. End.

Now a question: should this match have taken place? Better yet: should the next one, Saturday at Sunrise, be kept on the schedule?

The NHL’s response, at least so far: absolutely. Deputy Circuit Commissioner Bill Daly said bluntly, in an interview with TSN, that “if you accept the fact that once you’ve been hit with COVID, you’re not going to be hit by the year. , we don’t see a problem with [poursuivre] the season “.

Let’s move on to the weak scientific basis upstream – Evgeny Kuznetsov, of the Washington Capitals, has already contracted the virus three times.

The statement, above all, betrays a minimal, if not absent, consideration for the health of the players.

More people

Before the holidays, we started to test the players more, to tighten up the health rules. However, the surge in positive cases continued, especially and especially among the Canadian.

For the third time in four days, on Thursday, the team announced it had added names to the circuit’s surveillance protocol. This week alone, nine players have isolated themselves from the rest of the group. At the time of this writing, there are 12 in total.

Under the circumstances, and with the many injuries that already afflicted the Habs, we drew on the last available resources. Literally. Six of the twelve forwards at CH in Carolina started the season in the American League. Two others, Cole Caufield and Alex Belzile, would no doubt be playing it right now without the COVID outbreak. Add to that list defensemen Corey Schueneman, who has done well otherwise, and Kale Clague, cut off by the Los Angeles Kings at training camp, as well as back-up goalie Michael McNiven.

After them, there is no one left. Or almost. Of the reserve squad, only Cam Hillis remains, who started the season in the ECHL. At the Laval Rocket, only Jean-Sébastien Dea, the last attacker under contract, awaits a recall. Otherwise, all healthy defenders and guardians have been exhausted.

Here is more that Jonathan Drouin and Brendan Gallagher are banged up (some details are at the end of this text). If they were to be worn pale before the game in Florida, there would only be 20 players to fill 20 jerseys. Will we draw from the junior ranks?

” Difficult ”

We have heard the same refrain all week long: we trust the league and the team to make the right decision. Jake Evans, Thursday afternoon, and Nick Suzuki, after the game, reiterated it.

Brandon Baddock also, in a way, when he pointed out that there are “so many good players in this league that as soon as the chance presents itself, you have to take it”.

Head coach Dominique Ducharme played with our feelings a bit by saying that if the decision was up to him, his team would play the game against the Panthers on Saturday, because otherwise, “it wouldn’t be fair to the guys who are here and who are fighting for a chance ”.

Cédric Paquette, he seems to be fed up. More than once, he recalled that he did not want to “whine”, and that he was aware that his first job was to play hockey. The Quebecker nevertheless confirmed what we all already knew a little: “It doesn’t make sense. ”

The shovelful positive cases, the revolving doors of replacements, the uncertainty that hangs everywhere, constantly …

“Seeing guys fall in battle every day is not easy,” he confessed on video conference after the final whistle.

“We all ask ourselves questions,” he continued. We don’t know how many cases or how many injuries it will stop. […] It’s demoralizing, it’s hard to watch, hard to play. ”

And the coup de grace: “To see everyone [tomber malade], we wonder if this will happen to us. If there are still other cases [jeudi ou vendredi], I started to wonder whether to play the game on Saturday. I know the fans have paid for their tickets, but the product on the ice is not the same as it was at the start of the year. ”

Everything is here. Paquette, like many of his teammates, will fight for a position when the countless wounded and sick return. But at 28, and after more than 500 games in the NHL, he is no longer afraid to express his thoughts. Much like Jonathan Drouin had done, before Christmas, by declaring that he was not keen on the idea of ​​facing the Bruins, as the virus was proliferating in the locker room in Boston.

Dominique Ducharme is due to sit down with his boss Jeff Gorton on Friday to determine what will happen next. The organization, it is said, remains in communication with the league.

Thursday’s game and Saturday’s game will certainly be part of the discussions, knowing in addition that CH is returning to Florida, the American cradle of COVID. Moral victories in defeat have their virtues, but also their limits.

Who benefits from deliberately playing a decimated team struggling with an uncontrolled outbreak of COVID? Certainly not the Canadiens players, anyway. And probably not the league either.

So do them a favor. Let them come home.

In details

Disability in the circle

A center line is obviously not judged by the mere success of its members in the face-off circle. But it is undeniable that this is a fundamental component of the job. Against the Hurricanes, one of the best teams in the league in this regard, and in the absence of Christian Dvorak, the only constant and efficient center player in this phase of the game, the Canadian was eaten up. The locals won a whopping 72% of the face-offs in the game, or 43 of 60. Jordan Staal was particularly dominant with a performance of 17 wins in 21 attempts (81%). In the French camp, everyone struggled: Nick Suzuki (22%), Jake Evans (33%), Ryan Poehling (33%) and Cédric Paquette (25%). The CH was particularly atrocious in the numerical inferiority, winning only one duel in seven (14%). And the Hurricanes scored three goals five-on-four. Recall that Hurricane head coach Rod Brind’Amour was one of the greatest faceoff specialists in NHL history, who, in 1,484 games during the season, had a d efficiency of 58.7%.

Drouin and Gallagher fall (them too)

Surprise seconds before the start of the game: Jonathan Drouin, who had yet participated in the warm-up period to the left of Nick Suzuki and Brendan Gallagher, was withdrawn from the Habs training. Lukas Vejdemo was therefore transferred to the first line and the strong Brandon Baddock was offered a first game in the NHL. After the meeting, Dominique Ducharme indicated that Drouin did not feel “well at all”, and that despite a rapid test for COVID-19 which turned out to be negative, he skipped the meeting, because he had “no energy”. With the Canadian, we cross our fingers that it is delivered in time for the game on Saturday. As misfortune never comes alone, Brendan Gallagher left the game in the third period, suffering from a “lower body” injury. Ducharme considered that his case was “not too serious”. His condition will be reassessed on a daily basis.

Baddock’s baptism

At 26, tough guy Brandon Baddock had never played in the NHL before and, in all fairness, we didn’t really believe that day would come for him. A pandemic and discomfort suffered by a star player later, the third number 81 in the history of the Canadian lived his baptism Thursday in Raleigh. The Albertan first joined the reserve squad on Monday morning, then was officially recalled the next day before the game against the Lightning in Tampa. And when Drouin forfeited, he was the only replacement available. He was told so late that he would be playing that he only had time to text his wife. He planned to call his parents later that evening. “It’s a dream come true,” he said after the match. I worked so hard, I waited so long for my chance… Finally it happened. I worked hard every time I was there. Unsurprisingly confined to a supporting role on the fourth line, Baddock did an honest job and made his presence felt in net. He ended this meeting with four hits.

On the rise: Cédric Paquette

The Quebecer would undoubtedly spend his turn often in health training. But it didn’t look bad under the circumstances. He defended well on the penalty kill and had one of his team’s best scoring chances in the second period.

Down: Cole Caufield

His trio with Ryan Poehling and Rafaël Harvey-Pinard did not stand out much in this meeting. However, of the three, it was certainly Caufield who was the least visible. A disappointment for one of the few forwards who wears an NHL tag.

The number of the match

25.4

The sum of the salaries of the 20 players in uniform for the Canadiens stood at just $ 25.403 million, far from the cap of 81.5 million for NHL teams. The total even dropped to 18.903 million when Brendan Gallagher left the game.

They said