TORONTO — The Montreal Canadiens arrived here feeling like they had some momentum, despite riding a five-game losing streak, which tells you everything you need to know about this team right at this moment.
They felt they did some good things against the Pittsburgh Penguins, they took care of the puck after being sloppy and irresponsible with it for a stretch of games, most glaringly in the third period against the Washington Capitals.
They lost that game.
They had a great first period at home against the Calgary Flames, probably their best first period of the season.
They lost that game too, albeit in overtime.
They possessed the puck in the offensive zone like crazy Thursday in New Jersey against the Devils.
They lost that game, too.
It’s OK, if not crucial, for the Canadiens not to get lost in results. Being process-driven is important, and in each of those previous losses, the Canadiens’ process made incremental improvements.
But it’s one thing not getting lost in results, it’s quite another to completely disregard them. The Canadiens can’t afford to do that, and it seems like that’s what they’re doing.
They will wake up Sunday morning tied for dead last in the NHL’s overall standings. Considering everything the Canadiens hoped to be this season, that should be unacceptable.
And yet …
Last week in Pittsburgh, Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis was asked about statistics. He brought up something former Boston Red Sox manager Grady Little said on the Netflix documentary on Boston’s comeback win against the New York Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series.
It was a line about how statistics are like a tiny bikini; they’re revealing, but they don’t show everything.
Forget for a moment that aligning yourself with Grady Little is not something any coach should want to do, the point was valid. You should not be a captive of numbers.
That was last Saturday, and one week later, St. Louis chose to focus all his attention on how his team played at five-on-five, how it was one of their best games of the season in terms of shot volume, and to be fair, he was right. The Canadiens got off to an excellent start, they spent a lot of time in the offensive zone, they generated chances.
The numbers prove it.
Great.
They entered the first intermission down 1-0 on a goal the Canadiens, to a man, described as a bad bounce. Josh Anderson took full responsibility for losing Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Conor Timmins off the boards near the blue line, and Timmins’ shot did bounce in off Christian Dvorak battling in front of the net. Except between the time Anderson lost Timmins, and the time he got to a dangerous area of the ice to shoot from, three seconds passed, an eternity in hockey terms.
And not one of the other four Canadiens players on the ice paid any attention to Timmins. It is good of Anderson to take the blame for the goal, but what exactly were the other four players on the ice doing for those three seconds?
IT’S GOIN’ DOWN, I’M YELLIN’ TIMMER!!! pic.twitter.com/sEuzTB2NrA
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 10, 2024
“We just kept missing the net a little bit in the first, having some good looks. Got the bounce off the goalie and off the back,” Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki said. “We were feeling good about ourselves after the first. Just couldn’t find the offence that we needed.”
The Maple Leafs’ second goal was somewhat written off as a special teams goal. Except William Nylander entered the Canadiens’ zone and, again, four players watched as he walked into the slot and ripped a shot past Sam Montembeault.
STYLIN’ FROM COAST TO COAST 😎 pic.twitter.com/Dv0mBRU8dN
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 10, 2024
That’s not just a special teams goal. That’s an utter lack of awareness and urgency.
The Maple Leafs’ third goal came on a Canadiens power play, and the same description applies. What exactly is Suzuki doing here?
Czech out this shorty magic 🪄 pic.twitter.com/9Dat3FoKJx
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 10, 2024
“I knew (the play) wasn’t dead,” Suzuki said. “I stopped, tried to play him, I just wasn’t ahead enough to be all the way to his forehand. I knew it wasn’t dead.”
Saturday morning, St. Louis mentioned one thing he wanted to see from his team, because he had seen improvement from them over the three previous losses, losses that seemed like incremental steps.
“Continue to be engaged,” he said.
The Canadiens found themselves down 3-0 because on three different occasions, they were not engaged. They might have been engaged in general, but in the NHL, any lapse in engagement is costly.
And the Canadiens regularly have lapses in engagement.
Over their last four games, Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach, Juraj Slafkovský, Mike Matheson and Lane Hutson — their offensive core — have combined to score zero goals and two assists. Two points in four games from their six best offensive players. Brendan Gallagher alone has three goals over that same span.
It shouldn’t be acceptable.
“I feel like I’m trying to work myself out of it,” Suzuki said. “I got a couple of really good looks tonight, just wasn’t able to capitalize. I expect a lot out of myself, so it hasn’t been fun lately. Just trying to do the best I can and help the team.
“My job is to produce, so I’m not doing my job right now.”
If it were only Suzuki, it would be less of a problem. And if it were only scoring, it would be less of a problem. But the Canadiens’ top players are losing battles. They are missing easy passes. They are not executing, collectively, as a group.
Ice time is the ultimate currency for a coach, but how does a coach reduce the ice time of all his top players? It’s a dilemma.
“Well, I think they’re all fighting it a little bit,” St. Louis said. “It’s hard to do it by yourself in this league, so I think when they’re all fighting it a little bit, it’s hard for anybody. So we’ll see what we can do to help them out.”
St. Louis often says that lucid, honest self-awareness, self-evaluation, is a vital tool for growth.
Are the Canadiens sufficiently self-aware? Are they evaluating themselves in a lucid, honest way?
It’s hard to say they are. And until that happens, it’s hard to see how they will grow.
The Canadiens are tied for last in the NHL. Right now, that is what they are. The numbers say so. And the only way that will cease to be their truth is if they recognize what they are, which is the most porous defensive team in the NHL, and the worst team in the NHL, and work to change that reality.
Because right now, the bikini might be covering up some things, but it is not hiding that reality.
(Photo of Mitch Marner: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
