Canadian 1 – Blues 4 | For Ducharme, soon the time for choices

It’s not easy to be a National Hockey League coach. So imagine the challenge of being named Dominique Ducharme right now.

Richard Labbé
Press

Because the coach of the Canadian is in a strange position.

He must of course try to lead his gang to victory as often as possible. But at the same time, he works for a club, the Canadian, who will be practically eliminated by the time we go toast while watching the next one. Bye December 31, around 11:59 p.m.

That is without even talking about the next general manager, who will arrive after Christmas and who will undoubtedly want to impose his own strategies.

“In our situation, we need to be at our best, and we didn’t play as well as we would have liked,” admitted the head coach, Saturday night. Our execution was average, and at one point you find yourself spending the game chasing the game all the time. ”

For the people who follow us at home, remember that following this new defeat for the Canadiens, this time by a score of 4-1 against the Blues in St. Louis, the Montreal club is back in the saddle at 31^e rank in the overall NHL standings.

We can well bring out the example of the Blues of 2019 to try to play the card of optimism, but at this point, it would be a bit like remembering that Vanilla Ice composed a good song in her life, without specifying that it was Queen’s plagiarism and that will never happen again.

Which brings us back to Dominique Ducharme.

When does the coach of this team should try not to make a Randy Cunneyworth of himself? For those who have forgotten, Cunneyworth is the coach who spent the end of the 2011-2012 season trying to please his boss, Pierre Gauthier, especially by making questionable decisions, including that of letting René Bourque skate in numerical advantage when he had not scored in these circumstances since 2002 (we exaggerate, but hey).

Cunneyworth had done this hoping he could make a place for himself and make a name for himself, but we never saw him behind an NHL bench again.

This is the challenge that awaits the Canadian by the end of the season. Can we convince Ducharme to lead this club for next season without even offering him the certainty that he will be back? Or can he simply be asked to do what’s best for the team first and foremost, and not worry about the win-loss column, which is crucial to his immediate future?

We will have answers shortly.

“There’s always a stake when you get on the ice,” said goaltender Jake Allen after Saturday night’s game. You can always play for something, and when you don’t do it anymore, you have nothing more to do on the ice. This is how I see the situation. Losses are going to be, but it always depends on how you lose a game when you lose a game, may I add humbly. ”

And There you go.

In 1989, in the middle of the disastrous season with the Dallas Cowboys, coach Jimmy Johnson asked one of his only talented players, receiver Michael Irvin, to draw up a list of players who were no longer at heart. the cause of the club. The idea was to pack down the unwanted and prepare for a brighter future.

Perhaps Dominique Ducharme is there too.

In details

Charlie Lindgren is back!

One would have thought that Charlie Lindgren’s career was almost over, but no. So, after spending several weeks in the American League this season, Lindgren, 27, got a second start in 2021-22 in the Blues jersey. Even better for him, he took advantage of this Saturday night to collect his second victory in as many games, this time against his former club, with a performance of 22 saves. “I think Charlie was able to make big saves at moments of prime importance,” noted Blues coach Craig Bérubé. Among other wonders, I remember an Imperial save against Mike Hoffman, during the second period. I think Charlie seemed even more comfortable than in his previous match, as much as that could be possible. “

Matthew Peca? Yes, this Matthew Peca

Let’s face it, Matthew Peca did not leave dozens and dozens of lasting memories during his young years in Montreal. To be honest, we remember above all a young man who played the piano, very well in addition, and who had offered a fabulous interview with Patrick Huard, broadcast during intermissions at the Bell Center. At 28, the Petawawa forward played his first NHL game of the season on Saturday night, against his former team as well, and he took the opportunity to collect an assist. “I notice that there are a lot of changes in the Canadian since I had to change scenery, he illustrated. So to speak, I have to admit that it is an immeasurable pleasure for me to play in the National Hockey League. It is also a pleasure to be able to face this Canadian from Montreal who was once mine. “

Eight weeks without Toffoli

The Canadian had a rather difficult Saturday in the town of Chuck Berry. Even before being flushed out by the Blues in the evening, the Montreal club learned earlier in the day that Tyler Toffoli, the club’s leading scorer last season, was going to have to miss at least the next eight weeks of play, since he has had one hand surgery on Wednesday. Toffoli, who has 17 points in 26 games this season, played his last game on Dec. 4 in Nashville. His name adds to a very long list of injuries for the Canadiens, which since Saturday morning includes the name of striker Jake Evans, who also had to miss the game on Saturday night. Evans suffered an injury in the first period of Thursday’s game at the Bell Center.

They said

Rising

Alexander Romanov

The only CH scorer on Saturday night, but also one of the only players from this club to show good progress in recent weeks.

Falling

Artturi Lehkonen

Due to injuries, he started the match on the first line … but did not collect any points and concluded with a -1 on his record.

The number

13

Number of games lost this season by the Canadian by a gap of three goals or more, the worst record on the circuit in this regard.