Montreal Canadiens: The hope slowly continues to disappear with another loss

The Montreal Canadiens couldn’t find a way to get it together losing their first game back from the break 3-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Having had three days off to relax and enjoy the holidays, Wednesday’s game wasn’t the way we expected the Montreal Canadiens to respond. The first period was probably one of the worst the team has played all season. It was turnover after turnover, and if it wasn’t for Carey Price, the game could’ve been over within the first ten minutes.

For a coaching staff that continues to preach hard work in your end, the fact that the Habs continue to play so carelessly is unacceptable. The minutes before Teuvo Teravainen scored were worse than the actual goal.

The top line was scrambling and had absolutely no structure in the defensive zone. Karl Alzner‘s clearing attempt was just the cherry on top. Montreal came out with a little more urgency in the second period, but they still didn’t have enough to get the job done.

We’re all tired of hearing the same things. The amount of times someone has said, “They had their chances but couldn’t recover from their poor start,” is too many to count on both hands. Sure, Max Pacioretty had a shorthanded breakaway, and Charles Hudon had a chance to put the team up by one after getting a nice pass from Jakub Jerabek through the neutral zone. However, a chance is just a chance, and you can’t be as happy about them anymore unless it results with the puck in the net.

The only good things we can take from the game were Joe Morrow and Alex Galchenyuk. Morrow had his mini bad moments, but otherwise played a solid game. He saved at least three goals from going in on the penalty kill, even strength, and from Jeff Skinner‘s breakaway. The Skinner chance was probably the best of the three as even though it was his turnover that led to it in the first place, Morrow was able to skate back and impede Skinner just enough to stop him without taking a penalty.

Regardless of the goal, Galchenyuk was flying out there. He’s continuing to play with a level of confidence and ferocity that fans haven’t seen from him as much this year. That wrist shot from the circle was a patented Galchenyuk type of shot and was great to watch even though it was Montreal’s only goal.

Wake Up Call

The ship for moral victories sailed a long time ago. Now, the only thing that matters are results, and the Montreal Canadiens aren’t getting them. Granted, this isn’t to take anything away from the Hurricanes. They’re in a playoff run just like the Habs are (or were depending on your mindset) and played like it.