Islanders 6 – Canadian 2 | The worn-out chorus

It is probably Jeff Petry, earlier this week, who offered the best analysis of the Canadian of 2021-22: “It is difficult to play two good ones in a row. ”

Richard Labbé
Press

Simon-Olivier Lorange
Press

Is there anyone out there who has ever spoken truer words? The list is short: the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, and possibly Axl Rose as well. But what Petry meant was just the truth: this club is sorely lacking in consistency.

Another proof was made after 60 very long minutes, Thursday night at the Bell Center against the New York Islanders. And then, do you know the worst? The worst part is that the score of 6-2 does not really indicate the pace of the game. Because it could have been worse.

(Re) read our live coverage View the meeting summary

We can understand Tyler Toffoli to have struggled to find the right words at the end of the evening.

“I think our intentions were good,” said the Canadiens forward timidly at the end of the match. But we made a few turnovers, and then we started playing catch-up hockey… ”

If there is one theme to this already long season, it is this one: catching up. Moreover, all those who went to the microphone at the end of the evening mentioned it, as if it was a bad fate which they cannot get rid of.

“It’s frustrating,” Toffoli added. We try, we do what we have to do on the ice, but we end up making a couple of mistakes, and the puck ends up in the back of the net.

“It’s not like we weren’t doing the right things, but a couple of mistakes, and there you go, we pay the price. Then, when we find ourselves with a delay of 3-4 goals, start to “cheat”, to try games that we would not like to try normally. And it turns out that the Islanders like to create their offensive games after turnovers… ”

It’s not the first time we’ve seen it this season, and we saw it again Thursday night at the Bell Center. Often, too often, this defense crumbles dramatically.

We’ll tell each other, when the opponent sees duos like Kulak-Savard or like Romanov-Wideman arrive in front of him, it shouldn’t really cause shivers of fear all over the bench. Chills of pleasure, perhaps? At one point, Kulak was seen to find himself skating in the corner of the opposing territory, as the game moved to the other side. We saw Savard miss the net on a great occasion.

These are just a few examples, and there are reportedly dozens more. We don’t really know if he was close to a screen Thursday night, but if he saw that, Carey Price must have the taste to take all his time before returning to Brossard.

We cannot blame him.

“We are certainly looking for more stability in defense,” admitted Dominique Ducharme. It’s obvious that it was more difficult for Kulak and Savard… Of course we want more consistency and execution from our defense, but we also ask that of everyone in the team. . ”

With all that, one has the impression that the Canadian chorus is already worn and outdated, like an old vinyl by Engelbert Humperdinck. At the Bell Center, it talks about cohesion and consistency and the importance of stringing together good performances since October, but already, those words ring hollow. It sounds empty. Because there is really no one in this locker room to get up and show the way.

There is no captain this season with the Canadiens, and come to think of it, it may not be a coincidence.

Rising

Nick suzuki

It’s not like there are a dime a dozen candidates, so we’re going to go with the only one who scored two points.

Falling

David Savard

We could have chosen Brett Kulak too. The two had a very difficult evening.

The number of the match

5

The Canadian has allowed 5 or more goals in every game following a win this season.

In details

The worst trio since …

Traum Warning: This paragraph will contain painful memories. With pitiful differentials of -5, -5 and -4, Christian Dvorak, Mike Hoffman and Josh Anderson had the worst night for a Canadiens trio in just over a decade. It is indeed necessary to go back to February 2, 2011 to find a match during which the three members of the same unit ended the evening with a record of -4 or less. In an 8-6 loss for the Habs to the Boston Bruins, Scott Gomez, Lars Eller and Andrei Kostitsyn, at -4, were the worst of their camp. In addition, Hoffman and Dvorak, at -5, join a very select club which has only had seven members for a quarter of a century. Jeff Petry is the most recent member (April 2021). He himself had succeeded Shayne Corson, Stéphane Quintal and Vladimir Malakhov (October 2011) as well as Vincent Damphousse (January 1997). – Simon-Olivier Lorange

One night star

As long as we continue in the nostalgia: Brock Nelson became only the fourth player, in 25 years, to score four goals in a single game against the Canadiens. Alex Ovechkin (2008, 2017) and John LeClair (1997, 2002) have done it twice each, and Mario Lemieux (1997) once. After the meeting, the one-night stand star had the celebration sober, simply stressing that he was “glad to have contributed” and feeling his trio had “played well”. More talkative, his left winger Anthony Beauvillier (three assists), praised the “predictability” of his center player. “It has been a big part of my success over the past three years,” said the Quebecer. He had a big night, just like the player he is. He’s a guy who doesn’t talk a lot, but he’s efficient in all aspects of the game. I feel privileged to play with him. ”

Finns in the spotlight

Limited to a slim assist each since the start of the season, Artturi Lehkonen and Joel Armia are the very last in scorers among the Canadiens’ forwards who have played every game so far. In the morning, Thursday head coach Dominique Ducharme had stressed that like the rest of their team, they had done well against the Red Wings on Tuesday, and that by creating chances to score, “possibly , they will produce ”. The hoped-for explosion did not happen against the Islanders, but the two Finns were probably, along with Jake Evans, the best players on their side. Despite spending a lot of time on the ice against Mathew Barzal’s trio, Lehkonen and Armia controlled the overwhelming majority of five-on-five shooting attempts and were both present for four of the quality scoring chances of the CH, against just one for the opponent, according to the Natural Stat Trick site. It did not win their team, but we are (already) at the point where every maid is worthy of mention.

They said