In a Montreal Canadiens game where certain players needed to step up, they didn’t. The team adds another L to the preseason against the Ottawa Senators.
It’s hard, but forget about the result for a second. This was supposed to be a defining game for the Montreal Canadiens. Save for a handful of players, the rest of the line-up were being challenged by Claude Julien to give him a reason to keep them at camp.
So what does he get? Another game with a lack-luster effort, missed assignments, and turnovers. Their record doesn’t matter. It’s the level of compete and commitment to both ends of the ice that does. Unfortunately that hasn’t been seen as much as it should.
There are four preseason games left. At this rate, the window to impress the rest of the Habs’ management seems to be closing pretty quickly.
Thoughts and Observations
The Montreal Canadiens have scored a total of five goals over these past four games. Charles Hudon has had two of them. He got his second tonight. Montreal was down 4-0 in the second period but was spending some time in the Senators zone. The only line that has been generating actual pressure stood out once again.
Tomas Plekanec sends a pass to Hudon in the slot and he goes top shelf on Craig Anderson to make it 4-1. It’s amazing to think that there was a point where we weren’t sure he would even be on the team. Now there’s no way he couldn’t be.
Charles Hudon is a blessing and a complete joy and the score is now 4-1 pic.twitter.com/vcjCgpmY1T
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla) September 24, 2017
Related Story: Hudon in the Top Nine
Jèrèmy Grègoire, Daniel Carr, and Daniel Audette had a good game as well. Grègoire in particular was really physical finishing the game with 4 hits. Additionally, it was nice to see him try to spark up the team with his fight against Max McCormick. Jacob de La Rose was also much better playing at center for the team looking more dialed in than in the previous game.
Now we go to the negatives. One of the Habs main issues was clearing bodies in front of the net. Logan Brown’s first goal is on all five players on the ice, however Matt Taormina not even challenging him isn’t good. For the Senators’ second goal, Peter Holland doesn’t pick up Max Reinhart to score.
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Turnovers reared their ugly head as well. Our favourite turnover machine Joseph Morrow had a bad one in front of the Habs net that almost furthered Ottawa’s already significant lead. Seeing Brandon Davidson make some poor decisions with the puck was concerning as well. The other standout turnover wise resulted in a goal.
It’s hard to critique Jordie Benn on this one because you can tell what he wanted to do and he’s usually more reliable. An attempt to clear the puck got picked up at the point by Chris Wideman and resulted in a deflected goal by Mark Stone.
Finally there’s Michael McCarron. Who? Who’s the right question. If someone told you that he wasn’t dressed for that game, they’d believe you. McCarron was completely non-existent save for a couple plays. Gliding around when the head coach made it clear that some players needed to prove that they wanted to be here is very disappointing.
The Ottawa Senators were the better team in every department. Even though the Montreal Canadiens had one NHL line playing, it’s no excuse. If this is the effort that the Laval Rocket will be getting this season, than they’re in trouble.
Next: Waiver Effect on the Habs
What did you make of the game? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.