We weren’t expecting a great vintage on Monday in Arizona, and that’s exactly what we got.
Posted at 6:44 p.m.
Updated at 8:23 p.m.
Two bottom-ranking teams, uninspired play, disinterested players. It gave the Coyotes a 5-2 victory, and the only good news is that no one had to plow their car to go see it.
This game was so boring that only the rumor of a possible appointment of the next GM in the middle of the game kept us interested. “I would like to have some answers… but I don’t have any at the moment,” summarized Jonathan Drouin with a resigned air.
Cayden Primeau had to give up his net to Samuel Montembeault after a game that allowed 4 goals on 16 shots. It’s another reminder that Carey Price’s replacement still hasn’t been found, and that in light of the latest news, we should think about it one day.
“I made the change of goalkeeper to change the momentum a bit,” explained Dominique Ducharme. They didn’t have a ton of chances, but they knew how to take advantage of them. We can’t say it’s his fault, but we wanted to see Montembeault third and that’s what happened. »
Since there is hardly any suspense left in this season, we will have to cling to these two questions: what will Dominique Ducharme do? And then, what will the next CEO do, who should be appointed shortly?
As far as Ducharme is concerned, it’s a bit complicated. He must win to hope to get a job, here or elsewhere, and his biggest challenge will be to rekindle the flame of passion in players who have obviously lost it.
PHOTO NAM Y. HUH, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Dominique Ducharme
There are signs that don’t lie, and when you see some veterans playing spectators in front of their goalkeeper, playing the least effort card, it’s up to the coach to shake things up a bit.
But will Ducharme be able to do it?
“At times, we were ordinary, admitted the coach after this disaster. The Coyotes took advantage of their chances, but there were definitely a few games where we could have done better. The guys need to get back to the level of play they are capable of providing more quickly… our guys are capable of better than that. »
Is this really the case? If it was only the youngest who took a dive, that would be one thing, but we can clearly see the veterans who are among those who can “do better”. They don’t, and if we’re honest, they haven’t since October, for the most part.
Which brings us to the next DG.
Poor him. He will have to quickly determine who is dragging his feet and want to leave, and he will also have to try to get the maximum in return from these guys. But it won’t be that easy, and a match like Monday’s, where just about everyone looks bad, won’t be likely to cause a price spike among other GMs interested in CH players.
“It’s difficult,” added Jonathan Drouin. Guys like Josh Anderson, coming back after six weeks out…I know that’s no excuse either, it’s up to us to play better.
“It’s not what we expected. We are in difficult times right now. It’s hard to accept, but we still have plenty of games to play this season. So we’re going to forget that one, but it sure hurts. »
It hurts because the Canadiens weren’t exactly facing the 1976 Red Army club on that little Monday in Arizona. He faced the Coyotes, who have played the role of entry mat for the rest of the league perfectly night after night for several seasons now.
We recall the final mark: Coyotes 5, Canadian 2.
With this defeat, the Canadian comes to consolidate his 32and square. And this 32and rank is exactly where this club deserves to eke out a living right now.
Rising
Jonathan Drouin
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Jonathan Drouin
He was one of the few with a white jersey to appear on the ice at Glendale.
Falling
Cole Caufield
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Cole Caufield
He’s not playing with any confidence…and he finished that game with -3 on his record.
The number
32
The number of teams in the NHL, and also the rank of the Canadian in the general classification.
In details
Carey Price is (still) waiting
Carey Price hasn’t been seen in goal this season, and it’s debatable if we’ll see him again soon. Thus, the star goalkeeper was able to consult his doctors recently about this knee injury which is slow to heal. But the duration of his absence remains indefinite, according to the Canadian. “It’s not a setback, but he was unable to take advantage of those weeks to advance in his rehabilitation,” noted the coach Monday noon before his club’s game in Arizona. Carey is in the same place as before Christmas, when our activities ceased due to COVID-19. The return of Price is not for now, like that of another guard, Jake Allen. The Canadiens confirmed that Allen underwent tests on Monday after he was injured in the Jan. 12 game in Boston against the Bruins. There is no expected return to play date for him.
Physical distancing at the Gila River Arena
Television footage showed rows and rows of empty benches, as is often the case in Arizona, and according to the official game statistics sheet, a crowd of 9,495 watched. classic between the Canadiens and the Coyotes. The figure seems very generous to us, but it is very representative of this other season of misery in Arizona, where the local club attracts an average of 11,575 spectators per game, good for the third rank among the worst averages in the circuit, after Buffalo and Ottawa.
Another difficult decision for CH
After the game, Dominique Ducharme joked (well, we think) that his record is “0-11” when he demands a video replay. Once again, the Canadiens lost on this little game, this time when Ducharme tried to argue that the Coyotes and Antoine Roussel had obstructed Nick Schmaltz’s goal in the second period. The goal was allowed, and the Canadian never really recovered. ” In my eyes, [Alexander] Romanov pushes him towards the corner, not towards the goal, Ducharme explained. Clearly, this prevented [Cayden] Primeau to move and stop. »
They said
I went to the net and got pushed a bit and was able to pass the puck… The ref told me right away there was no obstruction on the play because I was pushed. I felt that this goal had clipped their wings.
Antoine Roussel
Expensive overtime was granted. We never came back. […] Everyone wants to win every game. We said it before the match: all matches are important. We tried, it didn’t work.
Laurent Dauphin
I would like to say why it doesn’t work, I don’t have an answer at the moment. I can only say that we have to be ready to start games 100 times stronger than that. We knew what kind of match we were going to have, we knew what was at stake for us. It’s hard to start like that. And we let go of a goal at the end of the second.
Jonathan Drouin
At the start of the match, they seized their chances. We were still able to get back into the game towards the second half of the period, with the beautiful goal of [Rem] Pitlick. They scored on a funny play on third base. […] I don’t think our players are playing to their full potential, certainly not [lundi] evening. I think our guys are capable of better than that.
Dominique Ducharme