The Montreal Canadiens started their season off about as bad as anyone could have possibly expected.
Five consecutive losses than included less than goals scored put the Canadiens way behind the eight ball to begin the new season. The team is just a couple of months removed from a Stanley Cup Final run and suddenly there was very little positivity in the fan base.
Some of that came back after a dominating 6-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night. Maybe the team just needed a little time to gain some chemistry? Maybe their offensive weapons finally woke up? Did their defence pairings find the right balance and now they are ready to take off? Or did they just beat up on one of the worst teams in the league?
All of these questions will quickly be answered as the Canadiens embark on their first road lengthy trip of the season. Their only games on the road so far this season were against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres to begin the season. Four straight games followed at the Bell Centre, including losses to the San Jose Sharks, New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes before the big win over the Wings.
Their current 1-5-0 record gives a little extra importance to the upcoming four game road trip.
The Habs will take on the expansion Seattle Kraken tonight. It is just the second game ever at Climate Pledge Arena. The Kraken aren’t off to a much better start than the Canadiens as they are 1-4-1 after six games so they will be desperate to get their first win on home ice.
The Habs will then face the San Jose Sharks, who already dominated the Canadiens in a 5-0 victory at the Bell Centre last week. The Sharks started their season with four straight wins before falling 4-3 to the Boston Bruins. They are always strong at home and the Habs have struggled in San Jose in the past so it also isn’t a great matchup for the Canadiens.
The Habs then take on the Los Angeles Kings in an afternoon matinee on Saturday. The Kings are not off to a great start either, winning their first game of the season and then dropping four in a row before last night’s contest with the St. Louis Blues.
The Canadiens wrap up their first west coast trip with another afternoon affair on Sunday, this time with the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks are a young and skilled team that will be a tough matchup as the Habs third game in four days. The have begun the year 2-3-1 but have a lot of talent up and down the lineup and a tremendous goaltender.
The Canadiens have not made the California trip since the 2018-19 season, but is hasn’t been kind to them. The last time they rumbled through California, they beat the Kings 3-1 before losing the next two games by a combined score of 13-4.
They are going to need a good trip this time around to keep positivity going when they return home. A 1-3-0 record in the next four games drops them to 2-8-0 to begin the season. Even a 3-1-0 record just brings them up to 4-6-0 which isn’t great but would give them a chance to climb back to .500 in early November.
It seems way too early to be calling games must wins, but this October road trip must be successful. After a terrible start, the Canadiens can’t afford to tread water, they need to take off and this road trip needs to be the catalyst.