The same mess | The Journal of Montreal

LOS ANGELES | Marc Bergevin very rarely goes into the team locker room after a game to talk to his players. But the general manager of the Canadiens felt the need to do so after that embarrassing 5-2 loss against the Kings at Staples Center.

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After nine games, CH now have a horrible record of two wins and seven losses. Beyond the bad record, there is also the lack of passion which is scary.

Before this thaw against the new team of Phillip Danault, the Habs had already suffered corrections of 5 to 1 against the Sabers in Buffalo, 5 to 0 against the Sharks in Montreal and 5 to 1 against the Kraken in Seattle. There are no Stanley Cup contenders in this lot.

We are still talking about four out of nine meetings where the heart, the effort and the execution were simply not there.

stress

In the corridors of the Staples Center after the game, we felt this tension inside the team. It is no coincidence that Bergevin chose to talk to his players. We do not know the nature of the speech, but the DG certainly did not send flowers to his proteges.

Meet the players

It was not just Bergevin who spoke after this match.

« Yes, we spoke after the game, » said defender David Savard. But it will remain between the players. »

Dominique Ducharme, meanwhile, did not knock over a trash can or throw a tantrum under the eyes of his players.

“They know what to do. They know what makes us successful. The match at SJ was not perfect, but we had something to build on, a lot of good things. I can’t pick them up every other day. It has to come from them too. We are all in the same boat. We all want the same thing. But they have their part to do. »

In his first game against the Habs in a Kings uniform, Danault got an assist on Alex Iafallo’s second goal of the game. He had a big smile on his way out of the rink. For the Kings, it was the end of a six-game losing streak (0-5-1) and only their second win this year.

What we noticed…

Awful outnumbered

The CH had not given a goal in its last two games shorthanded (8 in 8). If it was believed that the team was heading in the right direction, the Kings destroyed this idea by hitting the target three times in five opportunities on the power play. Arthur Kaliyez, Rasmus Kupari and Alex Iafallo took turns outsmarting Jake Allen. Since the start of the season, the Habs have allowed 12 goals on 34 attempts for a horrible 64.7%.

A weight for Caufield

There’s still a zero in the goals column for Cole Caufield. For a natural scorer, a series of nine games without any goals can quickly turn into a cannonball. The number 22 does not play with the same confidence as at the end of the season and during the playoffs last year. Against the Kings, he fired four shots in the direction of Calvin Petersen and again got a good chance to score. But when he knocked on the door of the goals, he took a simple shot in the chest of the goalkeeper.

The stakes

There is a fairly simple observation. When you win a face-off, you take possession of the puck. For this visit to Los Angeles, the CH constantly chased the black object. The Kings won 62% of the faceoffs. Anze Kopitar, who played a strong game with two assists, had fun finishing the evening 64% (14 for 22) in the circle. At CH, Suzuki (35%), Paquette (29%) and Perreault (38%) experienced difficulties.

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anderson

There were few possible choices at CH Josh Anderson scored a goal, had an assist and fired six shots

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Petry

The CH will pray for the awakening of Jeff Petry The American is not a shadow of himself He messed up on the Kings’ first goal with another bad exit from territory

First period

1-MON: Josh Anderson (2)
(Dvorak, Romanov)18:22

Penalties: Kempe (LA) 10:34

Second period

2-LA: Viktor Arvidsson (2)
(Kopitar, Maatta)4:31
3-LA: Arthur Kaliyev (1)
(Clague, Kopitar)AN-12:19

Penalties: Anderson (Mon) 11:42, Romanov (Mon) 12:55, Kempe (LA) 13:16

Third period

4-LA: Rasmus Kupari (2)
(Roy, Iafallo)AN-1:53
5-LA: Alex Iafallo (2)
(Roy)AN-5:37
6-LA: Alex Iafallo (3)
(Danault, Kupari)AN-14:16
7-MON: Ben Chiarot (2)
(Anderson, Suzuki)DN-17:40

Penalties: Dvorak (Mon) 0:23, Lehkonen (Mon) 5:52, Perreault (Mon) 12:51, Kaliyev (LA) 15:34

Shoot to the net

MONTREAL 8 – 10 – 10 – 28 LOS ANGELES 10 – 15 – 13 – 38

Guardians:

MON: Jake Allen (G, 2-6-0) LA: Calvin Petersen (G, 2-2-0)

Numerical advantages:

MON: 0 in 3, LA: 3 in 5

Referees:

Steve Kozari, Trevor Hanson

Linesmen:

Ryan Gibbons, Jonathan Deschamps

ASSISTANCE:

12,785

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