To our knowledge, Buffalo Sabres captain Brian Gionta has never made trash talk a core element of his game. But after scoring the first goal of a shootout against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night, the veteran winger just couldn’t resist a jab at his old teammates as he glided by their bench.
Since we don’t know exactly what Gionta said, we’ll have to settle for the next best thing: pure speculation.
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Considering the 35-year-old plays on what could be a historically bad Buffalo team, there’s a temptation to assume Gionta was obliged to exercise some restraint. Then again, the way the Habs have been going lately, their old captain would have been fully justified to offer up something along the lines of, “I’m sure glad it’s not my job to answer for how you guys play anymore.”
To the Canadiens’ credit, they responded to Gionta’s goal and gamesmanship with some strikes of their own, snatching a 2-1 victory and two desperately needed points. To Montreal’s shame, the win still didn’t offer much evidence that a team whose 9-4-1 record involves some serious slight-of-hand is any closer to addressing the problems that have plunged it into a tailspin.
Less than two weeks ago, Montreal defeated the New York Rangers in a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference final. The 3-1 victory ran the Canadiens’ season mark to 7-1-0 and while the team had displayed some dismaying habits—it was consistently falling behind in games—nobody was going to fret too much from the penthouse.
Fast-forward about 10 days and a lot of Habs fans likely need to be walked down from that top-floor ledge.
The (slightly) condensed version of the horror reads something like this: two wins in their past six outings, both via shootouts, meaning the one-on-one derby now accounts for four of Montreal’s nine total victories, with an additional overtime ‘W’ to boot.
In their past two home games, the Habs were outscored by a combined total of 11-2. Wednesday’s tilt was the first time during this ugly patch—and just the third time all season—that Montreal managed to net the game’s first goal, and it still didn’t come until the third period.
The power play—which struggled last year—has gotten worse, converting at a gruesome rate of just 7.9 percent, largely because the team is 0-for-25 with the man advantage on the road. Meanwhile, the Habs’ sloppy play has forced them into 59 shorthanded situations, the most in the NHL.
Add it up and you start to understand why the Canadiens’ per-game rank in goals for, goals against, shots for and shots against is as follows: 27th; 20th; 25th and 23rd. Despite all that, they still boast the sixth-best winning percentage in the NHL.
Where are the trouble areas? Pretty much everywhere except the crease. P.A. Parenteau’s three game-deciding shootout goals this year notwithstanding, the Canadiens have demonstrated very little in the way of offensive acumen. Coach Michel Therrien’s lines have been in a constant blender, with plugger Dale Weise even seeing time on the top unit with Max Pacioretty and David Desharnais.
As rough as it’s been up front, the defence corps could actually be a larger point of long-term concern. P.K. Subban may be trying too hard to justify that $72-million off-season contract, as he’s tied with Toronto’s Dion Phaneuf and Pittsburgh ruffian Steve Downie for the most minor penalties in the league with 11. Even assuming Subban and veteran Andrei Markov can settle things down and eventually breathe some life into the power play, there’s enough spotty play behind them to cause trouble. Newcomer Tom Gilbert has held his own, but hard-nosed Russian Alexei Emelin has looked flat-out lost at times. It would be a massive development for Montreal if either Jarred Tinordi or, more likely, Nathan Beaulieu proved ready for second-pair duty, but right now, both guys have their hands full just convincing the coach to dress them consistently.
Even Carey Price, according to his .907 save percentage, has had a rough go, but he’s also stolen some games and been hung out to dry too often to assume much blame. Dustin Tokarski, meanwhile, has posted a stellar .929 save percentage and got his second win in three starts on Wednesday after stopping the two Sabres who followed Gionta in the shootout.
Come to think of it, Tokarski might be the one Canadiens player who can legitimately claim to have done everything asked of him this year. And given he’s the backup goalie, that says more about the way Montreal’s been playing than their former captain ever could.