The amateurs have launched a message which should not reach the ears of the deaf.
They are fed up with it.
We heard them Thursday night at the Bell Center.
Can we blame them?
They pay top dollar to attend a high level show, to appreciate the collective effort of a team. They are not asking for the moon. They want to enjoy a performance where the players deliver a performance that meets expectations. They know it’s not a great team but they want a constant effort.
What we serve them instead are performances where everything is wrong.
The defensive brigade is a real sieve, the attack is non-existent and the guards must perform miracles to avoid the worst.
On Thursday night, Cayden Primeau spent two periods suffering from the Penguins’ counterattacks. Was he as effective as he was in the game against Rangers? No.
But, in front of him, it was not very bright. It was even sad.
Still, the Penguins had been in trouble for the past few days. They were a vulnerable team and with a collective effort driven by a convincing commitment that often makes the difference between victory and loss, there was an opportunity to shine a little shine on a horrific season.
Stop racking our brains with injuries, stop repeating that this team has been hit hard by adversity, all the teams in the league are going through difficult experiences.
The Canadian has never been in the game. Never. As Dominique Ducharme said after the match: “We weren’t good. A few minutes later he said, “We were bad. “
He could have added: such a performance is unacceptable.
The decision-makers of this organization will have to come forward. It can’t go on like this. The team is currently screwing up what they managed to create last spring. We had regained the confidence of the supporters. We had succeeded in bringing pleasure back to the amphitheater and all over the city and the provinces.
This team, capable of achieving the unthinkable, had brought everyone together.
However, the ties may not be broken. Fans will always have a little hope.
However, since the start of the season, this team has pushed its lack of conviction, sometimes its indifference, a little too far.
And when, the amateurs let hear their discontent, it is that one abuses his patience.
This is where it gets worrying for an owner, for an organization. Especially since the team has one of the three largest salary budgets in the league and ranks second to last in the Atlantic division.
With this team, the scenario is always the same.
Sometimes we can spice up the sauce but we hasten to spoil everything by making the same stupid mistakes the coaches keep telling us every day.
“When you grab the puck, you have to know how to keep it and especially make plays leading to confusion for the opponent,” said Dominique Ducharme recently.
And he was to add: “Alas, we don’t have a system to correct that. “
No, there is no system for a player to make the right decision, or for a player to compete at the same level as the enemy.
How to explain that the Canadian is so messy in the first period, conceding a priority of three goals to the Penguins, and making only one shot on goal in the last 10 minutes of the period?
Disorganized? No. It is individualism that sets the collectivity apart. How to explain that a team appears in front of its audience and shows a not very convincing interest in its actions, not to say an effort leaving the dangling of a rather mixed engagement?
No doubt, we raised the tone between the first and the second periods, we saw a team a little more involved in the second period. There were some spectacular streaks especially that of the big fan favorite, Cole Caufield.
But, again, it was the Penguins who, in scoring, won this second period.
And, there is this recurring problem with the Canadiens. A problem that we have been trying to solve for many moons. We don’t score a goal.
The few occasions where one manages to send the adversary in the cables, one never manages to strike him a solid blow to shake him. Yesterday Kristopher Letang, Sidney Crosby and the Penguins had an enjoyable evening at the Bell Center.
At least on a few occasions Cole Caufield kept the fans on the edge of their seats, alas he ended the night with a -3 record. His recall may have created unease in the locker room. I am thinking of Brendan Gallagher among others. I can understand that Gallagher has been an impact player for the organization but, at the moment, it is not conclusive. And is there a veteran in that locker room who can wince because Caufield was recalled and used in the trio completed by Nick Suzuki and Tyler Toffoli? That they put on “their work boots” and that they correct a situation which worsens with each match. That they advocate the community rather than lingering on inflating their personal profile.
In the meantime, Mattias Norlinder has done well under the circumstances. He formed a beautiful duet with David Savard. Alexander Romanov played a game where he got involved. But Tylor Toffoli -2, Nick Suzuki -2, Brendan Gallagher -1, Josh Anderson -1, Jonathan Drouin -1, Christian Dvorak -1, they are members of the Top six.
A night of horror for Ben Chiarot -4 and Jeff Petry -3.
The score 6-0. A 13th loss in 19 games.
Enough to animate the administrative offices.