This wasn’t about the Montreal Canadiens’ opponent on this night – an Ottawa Senators team that’s been at the bottom of the North Division from wire to wire but one that has also played exceptionally well down the stretch. This was about the Canadiens no-showing in a game that, if won, would’ve essentially stamped their ticket to the playoffs.
This was the Canadiens’ opportunity to make the math virtually impossible for both the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks to overcome, their chance to bury both teams in the race, notch a fourth consecutive win for the first time all season and keep the pressure on a Winnipeg Jets team just barely ahead of them, and they robbed themselves of it with an effort so poor they should be embarrassed – and not because it was a sixth loss to the Senators this season.
This young, plucky team in Ottawa has been one of the best in the league over the last month or so, and Wednesday’s 5-1 win was their eighth in their last 11. They deserve full credit for it. They’re a persistent, structured group that’s consistently mustered an appropriate effort nearly every time they’ve hit the ice, and they’ll benefit from that down the line – even without a chance to build on it in this year’s playoffs.
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That’s what the regular season is about. It’s about establishing good habits and building towards your best game.
We had seen some of that take shape for the Canadiens over their three contests prior to this one. It was evident in the character they displayed in coming back, in the way their special teams units came up clutch and in their general patience in adhering to their plan despite giving up leads to the opposition.
But this loss featured some of the bad habits the Canadiens have displayed all season, and it can send them cratering if they don’t bounce back from it immediately, with a game against the Division-leading Toronto Maple Leafs on tap Thursday being one of four remaining before the real heavy lifting needs to get done.
“Just the intensity of our game,” is something the Canadiens need to correct, according to Joel Edmundson, who scored Montreal’s only goal and was one of the team’s only players who put in an unimpeachable effort in Wednesday’s game.
“The past three games we were obviously all connected all over the ice and our intensity was there and we knew how big those games were,” Edmundson continued. “It just felt like tonight we weren’t all there. And there’s no nights off in this league. That’s what’s going to happen if you’re not on your game.”
We know the schedule has been beyond demanding, that the Canadiens have basically been skating suicides for five weeks straight and that heavy legs are to be expected on any given night.
But they know that, too. And they know that when the energy isn’t there, the game needs to be simplified and the system needs to be followed to the letter.
“There’s a physical side, and you can compensate by being sharp mentally,” said Canadiens coach Dominique Duchame, “and we were not good in all areas.”
There was no excuse for it – especially with what was on the line.
“I think everybody in that locker room coming into tonight’s game knew what we were capable of doing and we knew where we are in the standings—right there with Winnipeg and tied,” said Josh Anderson. “So we could’ve taken a lead there in the standings, and, honestly, it just wasn’t our night.”
Teammate Jeff Petry, who, along with Edmundson, was one of the few Canadiens playing at the level expected of him, said they were bad at the start, in the middle and to finish.
It’s not a good vibe to carry to Toronto – and into these final games if it persists.
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“We can’t have bad habits slip in,” said Petry. “We have to really sharpen up and make sure we’re on top of our game here down the stretch and have that momentum on our side going into the playoffs.”
It’s there where a good start to the game is imperative, and the Canadiens have got to begin having them after giving up the game’s first goal in five straight.
There are other things to correct—from the engagement level of certain players to the general attention to detail from everyone. It’s why they can’t just toss away the tape from this loss. They need to review it, realize to what end they failed to rise to the occasion and correct it all before they move forward.
“We gotta use that and have an answer tomorrow and have a bounce-back game,” said Ducharme.
It’s not going to be easy without much sleep, without Carey Price, Brendan Gallagher, Shea Weber, Paul Byron, Jonathan Drouin and possibly Tomas Tatar, and against a rested Leafs team looking to avenge Monday’s loss.
But nothing’s ever easy at this juncture of the season.
“We have to find a way to battle through it,” said Petry. “It’s inevitable at this time of year whether it’s on a normal schedule or the schedule we have—you’re going to feel fatigued some nights, but mentally we have to be sharp…
“It’s just the mentality of doing the little things when you’re not feeling on top of your game that you can still do.”
The Canadiens didn’t have it at Canadian Tire Centre, but they had better have it at Scotiabank Arena.
“Be ready to start,” said Anderson. “It’s pretty simple; we’ve got to come out and perform, have everybody buying in to the system and to the game tomorrow night because it’s a big game. Playing against Leafs… it could be a matchup. We’ve got to come out hard, physical and play the right way and play hard for 60 minutes.
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