When the final horn rung to conclude Thursday’s game (Dec. 12), there were many empty seats at the Bell Centre. Many patrons had left the building several minutes earlier, concluding that they had seen enough. Those that remained gave the Montreal Canadiens a piece of their mind (and maybe the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins, too). The boobirds were out. Loudly at that. How could they not be at the end of a 9-2 obliteration? Let’s discuss.
A Shocking Turn of Events
The odd part is, judging by the first period, nothing suggested a nightmarish scenario would unfold in the third period. In fact, Montreal got off to an encouraging start when Cole Caufield picked off a Penguins pass along the blue line and dashed out with captain Nick Suzuki for a two-on-one. A few Penguins players managed to catch up, but not before Caufield slid the disc to Suzuki, who confidently sent the puck home for a 1-0 lead at 2:12.
Later in the period, Lane Hutson put moves on Pittsburgh defenders along the boards. He mailed a brilliant pass to Josh Anderson in the slot, but Tristan Jarry staunchly repelled the latter’s attempt.
Furthermore, tough guy defenceman Arber Xhekaj sent some physical messages to Evgeni Malkin and Rickard Rakell, announcing that Montreal was ready to hold the fort this time – Pittsburgh had already defeated Montreal twice this season.
Related: Canadiens Clearly Still Have Special Defenseman in Goalless Hutson
It’s not like Rackell’s goal on the power play that levelled the terms 1-1 meant that the Canadiens were about to shrink into pushovers. It wasn’t a great goal from a defensive standpoint – and wouldn’t be the last time on the night that Mike Matheson looked poor – but it shouldn’t have led to what followed. Yet, somehow, that was the beginning of the end.
Pittsburgh netted a pair in the middle frame for a 3-1 advantage, which was cut to 3-2 through a fine Joel Armia goal. But something happened in the dressing room between the second and final periods. Montreal was appallingly flat during the remaining 20 minutes, getting blasted for six goals. It was like seeing the club experience a total breakdown. It was a breakdown. Defensive lapses, players blowing tires, goalies left out to dry (Samuel Montembeault was eventually replaced by Cayden Primeau), etc.
These are the games that encourage the supporters to ask for Martin St. Louis’ head. The front office can argue until the cows come home about how patience is needed, but defeats like this one are deflating for everyone, from the players to the fans.
A Bad Showing From Players Who Need to Do Better
Speaking of Matheson, we recently published an analysis of general manager (GM) Kent Hughes’ potential trade options. The Pointe-Claire, Quebec native was included, not because he’s no good, but because he might offer value to a playoff hopeful. Well, Thursday was a dreadful showing. He was schooled in the second period by Bryan Rust on the latter’s first of three goals. Worse, one can argue he was out-hustled. Rust looked like he wanted to score more than Matheson wanted to stop his opponent. That’s not okay.
Rakell was wide open on Pittsburgh’s fourth goal early in the third period. Jaden Struble opted to follow Sidney Crosby around Montembeault’s net, which makes sense. After all, Crosby is a player who needs to be shadowed. But Patrik Laine and Lane Hutson both went after Rust, leaving Rakell free to enter the slot.
On the fifth goal, scored by Kris Letang on the man advantage, nobody is doing anything to make Rakell uncomfortable in the crease. Lo and behind, he’s the one who screens Montembeault when Letang fires from the faceoff circle.
From that point onward it was mostly a cavalcade of semi-comical errors. Case in point: Kaiden Guhle’s attempt to clear the puck at 11:56, only to send it directly onto Rust’s stick. He blasted home a shot against a hapless Primeau, who was still getting up from a save he had made seconds earlier.
But Anderson and Guhle were not the main culprits. Losing 9-2 is, in a twisted way, a team effort. Christian Dvorak had a breakaway opportunity and was stonewalled. We alluded to Anderson’s chance courtesy of a slick Hutson pass, only to be stopped by Jarry. Dvorak had a minus-2 rating. So did Alex Newhook and Jake Evans. Anderson was a minus-3. These are all the players fans are starting to tire of.
Again, games that finish 9-2 are exceptional, but when the players getting criticized regularly have the worst stats in a 9-2 game…it’s not a great look.
Horrible Scores a Recurring Problem for Habs
Let’s talk about that “exceptional” point to conclude this piece. Okay, this was the first time in 2024-25 that the Canadiens fell 9-2. You got us on that one. However, they also lost 7-2 to the New York Rangers (Oct. 22) and fell 8-2 to the Seattle Kraken (Oct. 29).
Diving into the numbers, one notices that the Pittsburgh game was the 10th time the Canadiens conceded at least five goals in a match this season. It was the eighth time they conceded at last six, the third time they let in at least seven, and the second time for eight goals. Somehow one of those contests still resulted in a win. That was on Nov. 11 away to the Buffalo Sabres, a crazy 7-5 game.
Montreal has partaken in 28 contests as of this writing. Given that the club has coughed up a quintet of goals 10 times, that’s 35.71% of their matches. Can you imagine trying to build a successful hockey club and needing to net a minimum of six goals in 35.71% of your games, otherwise, your team is guaranteed to lose.
This is what St. Louis and his staff have to work through. There is a saying uttered by sports fans and pundits every now and then. It’s debatable how much truth there is, but it sounds clever: A team is the reflection of its coach. St. Louis is pretty relaxed most of the time. Even-keeled, in other words. He doesn’t strike one as a personality that lashes out left and right on a whim. That can absolutely be a positive thing for certain teams. But maybe he needs to show some tough love toward this group.
With that, the Canadiens play eight of their next 10 games away from the Bell Centre. The journey begins in Winnipeg against the Jets on Saturday (Dec. 14). It won’t be easy as the Jets are among the top sides in the NHL. It also can’t possibly be worse than what the Penguins did to them on Thursday. If anything, maybe Montreal will get up for the challenge of playing a league-leading squad. Otherwise, the chatter about what they should try to sell will only grow louder.
