Montreal Canadiens TPT: It Might Be Time to Panic

On this week’s Twitter Poll Thursday, we ask Montreal Canadiens fans whether it’s time to panic seeing as how they’re knee-deep in a slump.

As the games and losses pile up for the Montreal Canadiens, it’s getting harder to stay optimistic. The team has played seven games so far this season and have won only one of them. Montreal managed to beat the Buffalo Sabres in their season opener, and that was a shootout win. Since then, the Habs have one point from their overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs last Saturday.

Their issues aren’t any different. Defensive breakdowns which have led to weaker goaltending, in combination with a significant lack of goal scoring. Carey Price is off to one of his worst starts to a season with a .885 save percentage. Last year he had a .958 save percentage after his first six games.

Al Montoya has recently felt the impact of the team’s defence. He was having a great game against the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday until the Habs loosened up in the third. Four goals later and Montoya left the game with a combined .863 save percentage.

Goals against average (GAA) is a stat that isn’t looked into as much since it speaks more to the team than the goaltender themselves. However, Price and Montoya have a GAA of 3.57 and 4.20 respectively. Something like that can’t be ignored and shows how poorly the team has been in front of them.

The obvious and most talked about issue is goal scoring. In a nutshell, the Montreal Canadiens don’t have it from a lot of players save for Jonathan Drouin.

Fans have been going back and forth with this over the last few weeks but, is it time to panic?

Poll Results

It doesn’t take just this poll to feel the sense of panic in the fan base. Opinions are being voiced on Twitter, analysts are breaking it down on television and radio shows and forum sites like Reddit have been pretty dark lately.

More from Editorials

• Montreal Canadiens: Senators Rebuild At Crisis Point As Kent Hughes Moves Forward
• Montreal Canadiens: Jonathan Drouin Continues Charity Work In Montreal After Leaving Habs
• Montreal Canadiens: Laval Rocket Lineup Going To Be Must Watch
• Montreal Canadiens: Jesse Ylönen Contract Extension Analysis
• Montreal Canadiens: Top 31 Prospects – #31 Quentin Miller

It may be too early to fully panic, but it’s more than alright to be very concerned. The Montreal Canadiens have two points to their name. However, they haven’t been the only team in the east to go through early season struggles. The Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers have had a similar record. Additionally, the Canadiens are five points out of the third spot in the Atlantic Division and the second wild card spot.

A couple stretches of wins can turn things around but it needs to start sooner rather than later. Each loss is another foot deeper into the hole that the Habs have dug for themselves. It could eventually get to a point where other teams are so far ahead that whatever they do won’t make any difference.

The blueline needs to start locking things down. Jeff Petry and Jordie Benn have to improve. The team needs to start scoring more goals. Max Pacioretty needs to wake up. He had a similarly slow start last season as well but with more assists. It was alright then because the Habs had other players contributing. Now that the team is struggling for offence, he’ll be looked upon more.

It’s not only on him. Montreal could use an Alex Galchenyuk, Shea Weber, or Artturi Lehkonen goal right about now as well.

As much as the team has changed, they are not as bad as their record is showing. The Montreal Canadiens have five games left this month. Hopefully they can squeeze out some wins from that stretch considering three of them will be at home. On the other hand, if this poor play continues into November, then it may be time where fans can truly panic.

Next: Players to Use in a Trade

Have you started to panic or do you think its still too early? Let us know your thoughts down below.