The Montreal Canadiens played their last game of 2017 similar to how all their games this season have gone losing 2-0 to the Florida Panthers.
Claude Julien made two changes to the Montreal Canadiens ahead of the game. One of them we probably saw coming, and the other was a surprise. When David Schlemko joined the team on Thursday for practice, there was a pretty big chance that he would play.
The Habs’ blueline has already been their Achilles heel and losing Schlemko, and Shea Weber didn’t make it any better. Brett Lernout had a relatively better performance against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but the easiest move for Julien was to go to what was familiar to him.
The second change saw Nicolas Deslauriers sit out to get Byron Froese back in the lineup. Julien told reporters that the rationale was to create a balance of scoring among the four lines. I guess we had to ignore the fact that Deslauriers had three goals during this road trip.
This game was a representation of the entire Montreal Canadiens season. The team started really strong and had the Panthers in their zone for a lot of the first period. They had several opportunities to score early, but either they didn’t make it to the net, or James Reimer stopped them.
Unfortunately, Florida started to shake off the cobwebs and get into the game forcing Carey Price to make several big saves.
Carey Price with an ode to goaltenders past to keep the #Habs tied. pic.twitter.com/pmtwrIUAGM
— Jared Book (@jaredbook) December 31, 2017
The Panthers got on the board in the second period after a Mark Pysyk shot from the point was initially stopped by Price. However, Connor Brickley managed to lose Jordie Benn in front to tap in the rebound. The good news was that the Habs didn’t let it get them down and they continued to fight and generate pressure in the offensive zone. The bad news was they didn’t do much with the puck when they were there, at least not enough to get one past Reimer.
Vincent Trocheck got the eventual game-winner for Florida after Jeff Petry made a very poor move defensively. The Panthers had an odd-man rush going, and Petry decided to take Brickley out of the play leaving Benn out to dry as it created a two-on-one with Trochek and Mackenzie Weegar.
Benn tried to stop the pass to Weegar, but he was able to get it over to Trochek who had an open net as Price was off to the left.
To summarize: the Habs had a decent start and created scoring opportunities that they couldn’t finish on, Price had to become a force greater than human stopping 30+ shots, and defensive errors ruined which would otherwise be considered a well-played game. How many times have we seen that before?
More from Habs News
- Montreal Canadiens: Biggest Questions Going Into 2023-24
- Montreal Canadiens: Quentin Miller’s Poise And Confidence Fuel His Game
- Montreal Canadiens: Laval Rocket Top Defence Pair Could Be Set
- Montreal Canadiens: Worst Move Of The Pierre Gauthier Era
- Montreal Canadiens: Could Casey DeSmith End Up In Colorado?
It’s easy to say that it’s just back to the drawing board for the Habs. However, considering how many nights where the team has walked out of an arena losing a game they could’ve won, it doesn’t look like any line combination Julien makes could improve the result.
According to naturalstattrick.com, Paul Byon, Jonathan Drouin, Max Pacioretty, Alex Galchenyuk, Artturi Lehkonen, and Charles Hudon each had at least one high-danger scoring chance. The fact that there are no goals to show for nine critical opportunities is sadly a familiar occurrence fo what’s been going on all season.
The Montreal Canadiens finish their road trip with a 2-5 record and another foot deeper in their hole of mediocrity. If the end of 2017 is any consolation to how 2018 is going to go for the Habs, then we may have to pass around the tissue boxes (unless you’re on Team Tank then it that case high-five yourself).