Montreal Canadiens: The good news and bad news from last night’s game

The Montreal Canadiens lost again to the Pittsburgh Penguins, and although it’s easy to focus on the negative, there were some positives to take away from it.

Another game and another loss for the Montreal Canadiens. At this point, it’s really starting to look like Claude Julien, and some of the players are running out of things to say in the post-game scrums. Even though the Habs are trending downwards to tie their franchise-high in regulation losses in the era of 82-game seasons back in 2001 (40), there are some good things to take away from it. In particular, last night it’s game.

For example, and I say this with the least amount of sarcasm possible, the Habs broke their goalless streak. It took 166:03 of playing time but Jonathan Drouin got his 12th of the season in the final minutes of the game to break the Pittsburgh Penguins lead.

Keeping the narrative on the offensive side of things, Brett Lernout got his first point on the team’s second goal of the game. The Montreal Canadiens were put on the penalty kill, and Claude Julien put some of the kids on the ice. Nikita Scherbak was left alone in Pittsburgh’s zone and put the puck past Casey DeSmith on a nifty backhand to tie the game.

Jacob de La Rose found the back of the net as well in a decent display of hand-eye coordination to put the Habs up by a single goal. It seems like the 22-year-old is starting to come into his own offensively which is a positive going into a contract year. Speaking of hand-eye, now we get into the bad news of the game.

Sidney Crosby just put the Habs on top ten plays of the night, week, month, and year. His play to pop the puck into the air and bat it in past Carey Price will be talked about for a long time. Montreal also got burned by another goaltender interference call on the Evgeni Malkin goal. The general manager meetings didn’t change much as players, coaches, and maybe in the referees are still not sure what it is.

Finally, and this may be good depending on where your stance is, but that’s the Habs fourth loss in a row placing them 27th in the NHL. You could argue that last night was a win-win for the Montreal Canadiens. Price returns had has a sometimes shaky but decent start, the Habs youth rise up and contribute again, but they lose.

Call it bittersweet or being a realist. However, it seems this is the mentality fans will need to have to get through these remaining eight games.

Next: Can You Blame The Injuries?

What were your thoughts on last night’s game? Let us know in the comments below.