The Canadian | Distant memories of October

Jake Allen was one of the best goalies in the NHL in October. He ended his Tuesday evening to boos.

Mike Matheson was playing like a true No. 1 defenseman before All Day. He devoted part of his Wednesday to answering questions about his current ugly streak, among which we found the question so hated by the players: are you injured?

And the Canadian invincible at five against five, does that ring a bell?

So many memories that now seemed so distant, Wednesday, at the Canadian’s training in Brossard, just before flying to Detroit for this Thursday’s match. Such is life after four defeats in a row, three of which were not particularly brilliant.

Let’s take it one file at a time. Allen admitted his faults the day after his short and messy performance (four goals on nine shots) against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Immediately withdrawn from the match, Allen took his place on the reserve stool, despite a crowd that grumbled after he had given the visitors a gift in the form of a fourth goal. “I don’t think goalkeepers who are taken out of a match should return to the locker room. I hate seeing that,” Allen insisted. You sit on the bench, where you deserve to be, and that’s where you should stay. It happened to me often. I was there to support Sam and the band. We are moving forward. »

Matheson also agreed that it happened to him, like Leonardo in J.Edgar (our comparison, not his), to deliver some less glorious performances. “I would say that I am exactly the same player as last year. I just didn’t play my best hockey,” explained the Quebecer about his recent failures.

Even Martin St-Louis indulged in self-flagellation, saying “take responsibility, as a young coach”, not to praise certain aspects of the game too much “just because we win”.

“The success we had early this season may have hidden little things,” suggested the Habs head coach. St-Louis, remember, proudly declared that its team had “raised its standard” after last week’s very honorable defeat in Vegas.

Indicators in the red

Goals scored and allowed are anything but a reliable indicator. A goalkeeper’s heroic or disastrous performances can skew the data, especially over a short sample, as can a striker rolling at a success rate that is unsustainable over the long term.

It seems to be the “stock market correction” that the Canadian is currently experiencing. At five against five, according to Natural Stat Trick, the team still displays an enviable performance: 21 goals scored, 15 goals allowed, for a ratio of 58.33% of goals scored in this situation.

The problem is that all the other indicators paint a different picture. The Habs therefore control 47.89% of shot attempts, 48.69% of expected goals and 47.63% of scoring chances.

The causes of this fall are obviously difficult to isolate with certainty. “If we had the answers, we would make the changes easily,” Matheson reasoned.

The absences of David Savard and Kirby Dach, pillars of a club already fragile at the base, obviously do not help. Matheson was thought to be added to that list when he missed the third period of the Oct. 28 game, but he was back on duty two days later and hasn’t missed a game since. He assures that he is not injured, and his presence at training on Wednesday, when he could have claimed a “day of treatment”, encourages us to believe him.

“There are always times when everything seems negative, and you come out of the locker room and people talk to you about the negative! », Launched a slightly resigned Matheson.

Pointe-Clarais admitted that “it’s not fun” to find yourself on the ice for four goals from the opponent, which happened to him on Tuesday and Saturday, in all situations combined. “But it’s not just me who is responsible, and in the other two periods I also did good things,” he argued.

“He must not look back, he must think about his next presence,” added St-Louis. But I liked his second half of the match, he corrected things, he calmed down. As a team, we found each other, and so did Mike. »

Primeau at work

While waiting to know if he will get a second start this season, Cayden Primeau was able to afford an adequate volume of work on Wednesday. The poor third man in the Canadiens’ goalie triumvirate was entitled to a long individual session with Eric Raymond, goalie coach. We took advantage of access to the second ice rink – which is never possible on the road – to offer him this session. Josh Anderson was brought in as the shooter, with two dummies constantly in front of the young American to get him used to spotting the puck in heavy traffic. “It was good to have this job. I don’t want to say that we’re normally in a hurry, but this allows us to concentrate on just one goalkeeper. At this level, there are big players, you don’t always see the puck well. I’m just trying to stay on point on veiled shots. » Primeau said he didn’t know, when he was asked the question, if he would get a start during the sequence of three games in four nights that the Habs begin this Thursday.