Canadiens make trio of roster moves after embarrassing 6-1 loss

There can only be so many chances, so many excuses, so many speeches given before the firm hand of action must be used. For the Montreal Canadiens, that final breaking point came immediately following an embarrassing 6-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

When I say immediately, there is no hyperbole in saying the ice was still being scraped and resurfaced when it was announced via Canadiens social media channels that Owen Beck, Adam Engstrom and maybe the most surprising, Jacob Fowler were recalled to the Habs.

39 seconds of disastrous defensive play saw St. Louis score essentially two game-ending goals during the second period of Sunday’s match, and Tuesday’s game against Tampa was essentially the same scenario for periods on end.

The tone was set almost as soon as the puck dropped. The Habs unleashed a flurry of high-quality chances on Tampa’s net, followed instantly by a giveaway where Brayden Point waltzed around an aimlessly defending Struble and ripped the puck past Jakub Dobes.

High-quality offensive chances snuffed out by poor defensive play.

Coach Martin St. Louis said his biggest concern was those early goals during the after-game media ops. "The start of the game we look like ourselves again, the last two games we look like ourselves, and then we give up an early one.”

“I guess my biggest concern is these early goals in periods that we give up. It’s concerning because it’s deflating.”

But it would be the third Tampa goal that truly proves the thesis of the Canadiens' defensive woes. As Max Crozier primed for a point-shot, four Habs defenders all got in a line to block the shot. One shooter, four defenders and because of this, an unattended Nikita Kucherov, who ripped the puck past Dobes.

When Cole Caufield was asked about the understanding of the defensive system, he said, “I mean we have our rules where we know what we’re doing.”

“Whether it’s a lack of executing that, details and making sure you’ve got your guy, playing one and a half, doing what you can but we’ve got to help each other out.”

“It hasn’t been consistent the last couple of weeks and we’ve got to fix that.”

Now to the point of goaltending.

Jakub Dobes made his fourth consecutive start and let in three goals on 14 shots during the first period before he was pulled in place of Sam Montembeault. Montembeault would let in three goals on the following 13. You can’t win hockey games if you don’t have saves. It’s not science, it’s not a theory, it’s not speculation, it’s an ugly truth Montreal has been battling with from the top of the season.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but this is the youngest team in the NHL. After the loss of so many veteran players ebbing, flowing and possibly regression were expected. The cascade of injuries certainly doesn’t aid such a precarious situation as well.

But the effort, the learning, the details? When asked by “The Athletic” reporter Arpon Basu about moving past deflation caused by these unfortunate scenarios, the Habs head coach noted, “I think it starts with the individual, they’ve got to do the job no matter what.”

“The habits to me are an all the time thing, you can’t just do things right when you feel like it.”

“I felt for the most part tonight, you look at the second and you know, I felt like we tried to do things right and didn’t give up much, we got a lot of chances. I think being deflated is just a feeling that comes and you’ve got to brush it off pretty quick. You’ve got to go and work on your habits.”

“Winning to me is temporary, the character is forever.”

It’s one thing for a coach to feel a way about how the team is doing. Management is another beast altogether. Enter Engstrom, Beck and Fowler. If the individuals aren’t performing, learning, or working on those habits, there is always another option.

Replace the individual.

Engstrom and Beck have been effective role fillers in each of their recalls with the Canadiens in the past, neither generating many points, but each has played their part inoffensively, reliably.

Now, a forward and a defender being recalled before a two-game road trip is in itself not unexpected, but who they recalled seems to point to possibly more. Engstrom is defensively sound and reads the game extraordinarily well, and Beck can help bolster a lethargic bottom six and possibly bring an offensive boost.

The real question is Fowler.

The lion’s share of discussion has been surrounding letting him develop for as long as possible down with the Rocket, and the Canadiens were more than happy to recall Kahkonen as an insurance policy a few nights before. It’s certainly not a knock on the 21-year-old netminder, sporting a .919 save percentage and a 2.09 GAA in 15 games with the Rocket this season, but more of a concern of generating another Cayden Primeau situation.

Simply put, it would be hard not to see Montreal’s brass recalling Fowler if they did not intend on him seeing some ice. The real question may be who doesn’t see any.