Montreal Canadiens Give Up Two More Crucial Divisional Points

By Ken MacMillan | Dec 30, 2019

SAINT PAUL, MN - OCTOBER 20: Jeff Petry #26, Tomas Tatar #90, Nick Suzuki#14 and Jordan Weal #43 of the Montreal Canadiens celebrate after scoring a goal against the Minnesota Wild during the game at the Xcel Energy Center on October 20, 2019 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images) /

The Montreal Canadiens faced the Florida Panthers last night in their penultimate game of their longest road trip of the season. Once again, they lost to a division rival.

The Montreal Canadiens continue shooting themselves in the foot. Over and over again they have a chance to make some hay in the weak Atlantic Division but they just can’t seem to gain any traction in the standings. They always seem to lose the big games against division rivals that could propel them up the standings.

It has been a frustrating season for Habs fans. The Canadiens will go out and dominate a great team like the Washington Capitals or St. Louis Blues on one night and then lose to the Detroit Red Wings or struggling Minnesota Wild in their next contest.

What makes things more frustrating is how wide open the Atlantic Division has been this season. The Boston Bruins have been the only consistent team and they are far ahead of the rest of the pack. Aside from the Bruins, second place in the division was up for grabs well into December with no one taking a firm hold on it.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have jumped into that position lately, but even during their winning streak they have displayed some poor defensive tendencies. Can they continue to win games while allowing more than three goals per game? The past 25 years of NHL games would suggest not.

So, who is the second best team in the Atlantic? Who else is going to make the postseason other than the Bruins? Well, the Habs showed once again last night that they either aren’t interested or don’t have the team capable of even finishing third in the worst division in the league.

Before the half of the seats in the building that were sold were even filled, the Canadiens were losing 2-0 to the Florida Panthers last night. Goals from Noel Acciari and Aleksander Barkov put the Habs in a big hole just 6:33 into the game.

A late power play goal by Tomas Tatar gave the Habs some life heading into the second period. The team looked a lot better to start the second and goals from Jeff Petry and Max Domi gave them a temporary 3-2 lead. All three goals were set up by Nick Suzuki who just continues to get better and better.

Not to be outdone, the Panthers answered back with three straight goals of their own before the end of the period, thanks to Barkov scoring again and then Jonathan Huberdeau sniping a pair just 35 seconds apart. Mike Matheson added another in the opening minute of the final period to give the Panthers a 6-3 lead.

The Canadiens scratched their way back to within a goal thanks to a Jesperi Kotkaniemi marker on the power play and a Shea Weber blast with just under two minutes to play. They came close to tying the game, pouring on the pressure with the extra attacker after the Weber goal, but they couldn’t find that elusive sixth goal.

You would think five would be enough. You would have thought four would be enough last night. However, the Habs just scored nine goal in two games on the road and came away with exactly zero points against two division rivals.

Unfortunately, it continues a bigger trend with the Habs struggling against Atlantic Division opponents. In the month of December, the Habs lost to the Panthers, Lightning, embarrassingly fell to the Red Wings, squeaked by the lowly Senators 3-2 in overtime and lost to the Bruins. That’s a 1-4-0 record in their modest-at-best division with playoff spots up for grabs.

The only Atlantic Division team they can seem to beat is the Maple Leafs. The Habs are 2-0-0 against Toronto. The rest of the division? The Habs are 2-7-2. It has pushed them to fifth in the division and just a point ahead of the Buffalo Sabres.

Next. Habs Complete Excellent Road Trip Through Western Canada. dark

Right now, the Habs are in 12th place in the Eastern Conference. A slightly better record against their not-so-tough division rivals could have them in second in the Atlantic. If the Habs can’t go on a lengthy winning streak against their division rivals, these early losses to the Red Wings, Sabres, Senators and now Lightning and Panthers are going to cost them a playoff spot.