In a stunning turn of events, the Montreal Canadiens, after showing signs of improvement early on in the season, have now hit a roadblock with a four-game losing streak. The team seemed to be on the right track after winning two of their first three games, but things took a sharp turn downhill.
The Canadiens have struggled recently, managing to secure just one point in their last four games, which came in a shootout loss to the New York Islanders. Their most recent defeat was a humiliating 7-2 loss to the Rangers, where they allowed four goals in the opening period, leading to goaltender Samuel Montembeault being pulled from the game.
Captain Nick Suzuki managed to score two goals in the game, but it was mostly all New York, bombarding the Canadiens’ goalies with a whopping 45 shots. Suzuki himself acknowledged the team’s recurring issue of falling behind early in games.
“It didn’t really feel like a 7-2 game until the end there when you look up at the scoreboard,” Suzuki commented. “But we obviously keep digging ourselves these holes, and against a good team like that, our details early on have to be really sharp. And we were definitely a little sleepy coming out and they jumped on us.”
Head coach Martin St. Louis expressed his disappointment with the result and emphasized the need to focus on what comes next. St. Louis is determined to address the team’s deficiencies during the next three days off.
“I’m very disappointed with the result,” St. Louis stated. “I’m probably going to go home, watch the game, and have a plan tomorrow. There’s nothing we can do tonight about tonight. That game is over.”
“Now it’s what’s next that’s important to me. It’s the repair. How are we going to repair some of these things, [like] falling asleep on an icing? I’m sure it’ll get addressed. But there are other parts of the game that we have to be better [at]. Some of it is collectively but some of it is individually.”
One of the glaring issues for the Canadiens during this losing streak has been their defense, as they have surrendered a whopping 20 goals in their past four games. The defensive corps of the team is notably young, with only Mike Matheson and David Savard being older than 23 on the roster.
The Canadiens find themselves at a crossroads, needing to address their defensive vulnerabilities and work on starting games stronger to avoid falling into early deficits. As they look to turn the page on this unfortunate stretch, the team will need to rally together and focus on improving their performance moving forward.