When Martin St-Louis arrived at the helm of the Canadian, on February 9, the players in the tricolor jersey all started talking about a new time. But today, 35 games later, the era of a new era seems already over.
Posted yesterday at 4:34 p.m.
Because the numbers say everything there is to say: no, there is nothing really new in this Canadian, who behaves essentially as the Canadian of Dominique Ducharme did, if we disregard the moral victories and the number of times the club has “passed close”… with the same result.
Thus, when the Canadian prepares for his penultimate game of the season, scheduled for Wednesday night in New York against the Rangers, it is a series of nine consecutive defeats that weighs down the team. Such a succession of failures is unheard of in the history of the club since the modernity of hockey, protective helmets and goalie masks.
In fact, you have to go back to January 1940 to find such a dark series in the great history book of the team. Earlier this season, the Canadiens had had an eight-game losing streak, from January 24 to February 13, and if we add the two losses (in overtime) on January 20 and 22, that winless drought had lasted the time of 10 encounters. Is it worse or better than this? Your turn to judge.
Before being pushed out, Ducharme started 2022 with a thin roster in Sunrise, Florida, and his 12 games this year, from 1er January to February 8, led to a 1-8-3 record, for a meager five points. These are similar stats that St. Louis just had in its last 12 games in April, going 2-10, for a total of 4 points.
This modest harvest contrasts with the outbursts of enthusiasm expressed by the most intransigent veterans towards Ducharme this winter, including Jeff Petry. On February 28, the veteran defenseman spoke of the “pleasure of coming to the arena”, among other revelations.
“Look at what we’re doing now,” he added. We play much better defensively. We eliminated the gray zone where the defender could not go, once past a certain point. This change, this half-second, gave time to the other teams and allowed one of their players to find themselves in the open. Now, in the three zones, we are always on an opponent. It’s hard for a rival when he doesn’t have time to find the perfect game. We force the opposing teams to make a play.
” Day by day “
Despite all that, St-Louis’ three months behind the Montreal bench will end with only one of those months that could have led to a winning record, that of February, when the new coach had a 5-3 record and 10 points in 8 games.
It’s not much better in terms of goals against, and the return of Carey Price, dated April 15, did not lead to a clear improvement in goal. In four games (four losses), the 34-year-old goaltender posted an average of 4.04 and a save percentage of only .853.
To this must be added new questions about his health. Several times in his last game, Saturday night in Ottawa, Price seemed to have trouble moving and getting up, and he wasn’t even in uniform for the next game, Sunday night at the Bell Centre.
With only two games on the schedule between now and the end of this season to forget, it is questionable whether we will see him again or not.
“We’ve listened to Carey since his return, and that’s what we did on Saturday too,” St-Louis said after Sunday night’s game. He couldn’t be on the bench [dimanche]and it will be evaluated again [lundi]. We have training scheduled for Tuesday, and we will go day by day with him. »
At least Price received good news on Monday: he was named among the Canadiens players in the race for the Bill-Masterton trophy, which annually rewards the NHL player who is the best known for his perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.
This does not, however, make us forget losing streaks, especially when they are historic.