(Sunrise) Is it possible to win games with just one line in this league? Probably not.
It turns out that in almost every match, the Canadian answers this question without really wanting to, with nothing in attack, or very little, and what can we do, in absolute terms, with nothing? Nothing, probably.
That somewhat explains Saturday night’s result in Florida, a loveless 4-1 loss to a Panthers who didn’t have to do much except maybe play a little better, but not really.
If there were still hopes of a place in the playoffs, the last two games demonstrated that the Canadian is not quite dreaming of a prolonged spring, especially not the one that is coming .
PHOTO JIM RASSOL, USA TODAY SPORTS
Brendan Gallagher (11) battles for the puck against Eetu Luostarinen (27).
“They forced us to stay in our zone for quite a long time,” noted captain Nick Suzuki. We had trouble getting the puck out of our territory. When we finally got it out, we were too tired to forecheck, so we had to go back to the bench to make changes. It ended up working to their advantage. »
Often, what ends up working to the advantage of the opponent is this lack of offensive punch which manifests itself too often, which brings us back to the low production of the majority of CH players in attack.
Juraj Slafkovsky needs to pitch more often, Joel Armia needs to do something, anything, and they’re not the only ones. Christian Dvorak, no shots in almost 16 minutes of play Saturday night, has only two points in his last 10 games. Brendan Gallagher has no goals since November 11, a 21-game drought.
And so on.
“We shoot ourselves in the foot with bad punishments,” admitted Cole Caufield. We were in the game for two periods, and we needed a few favorable puck jumps…”
Martin St-Louis was cautiously optimistic.
In the third period, things were going well, it was 1-1, it was not a perfect match neither for us nor for them. And we receive a penalty in the offensive zone. It hurts… You can’t take penalties in the offensive zone when it’s 1-1 in the third.
Martin St-Louis
Later, the coach will add “we were there”, which is not false, but which also reminds us that the Canadian does not have many volunteers when the time comes to have to score a big goal.
Obviously, there’s no point looking back on past misfortunes, but this already poorly equipped team on offense wasn’t going to survive injuries to important players like Kirby Dach or Alex Newhook, and right now, the lack of ammunition in attack is more and more evident.
At the same time, as of writing this, the Canadian arrives at 13e rank in the Eastern Conference standings. Should we be surprised? The answer is no.
Rising
Jake Allen
PHOTO JIM RASSOL, USA TODAY SPORTS
Jake Allen (34) stands in front of Eetu Luostarinen (27).
He only received 25 shots, but his saves at the start of the match gave the Canadian hope.
Falling
Joel Armia
A terrible game and on top of that, a costly penalty in the third period, which led to the Panthers’ second goal.
The number
3
The number of Canadian shots during the second period.
In details
More indiscipline…
The Canadian received three minor penalties this Saturday evening at Sunrise… and two of these penalties led to goals for the Panthers. Probably not a good idea, and Nick Suzuki was one of the culprits. “I didn’t think I learned that much from this game,” said the captain at the end of the evening. Regardless, it was not a good time to receive this punishment, and I know that very well. We want to be able to be aggressive on the penalty kill, but we need to have a better sense of anticipation. It has hurt us recently. »
The first in five games for Caufield
PHOTO JIM RASSOL, USA TODAY SPORTS
Cole Caufield tries to beat goalkeeper Anthony Stolarz.
Cole Caufield hadn’t scored in a while; since the December 16 game at the Bell Center against the New York Islanders, to be more precise. A small drought of four games that the young striker broke this Saturday evening at Sunrise, by scoring his ninth of the season. And what a goal it was, on the power play, while turning around and sending the puck backhanded, into the top of the net and behind an absolutely stunned Anthony Stolarz. But that obviously wasn’t enough…
Quebec in place, as usual
It’s become a Christmas tradition for a long time, and that doesn’t change: every time the Canadian arrives here during the holiday season, it’s a bit of a home game. This time, Florida Quebecers flocked to Sunrise quite early in the day, most passing through the enormous shopping center across the street. Then, they arrived by the dozens at the Panthers’ arena, the Amerant Bank Arena (an arena that changed its name again, incidentally) to cheer on the Canadian in a louder way than the locals cheered on the Panthers. For the Quebecers here, it was a very good day, except for the result, the eighth defeat in a row for CH at Sunrise. The match was presented in front of a packed house of 19,663 spectators.