Montreal Canadiens fans showed up to Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes hungry for something--anything--to cheer about. All of that energy had to go somewhere, and as the Habs were thoroughly, utterly dominated for a majority of the contest, the home crowd turned hostile.
This wasn't the sweater-on-the-ice variety of irritation from the Bell Center crowd. This wasn't a standing capacity-only building telling a franchise that it was fed up with a lack of playoff results spanning a decade or more. It felt different; more like a disappointment that slowly ballooned across 60 minutes of seemingly nonstop Hurricanes pressure.
It was 20,962 fans who paid hundreds and hundreds of dollars to attend an NHL playoff game, blowing off steam after Montreal looked to be more in preseason form than prepared for postseason hockey.
There's no way to sugarcoat it. No advanced stat to hide behind. This was an ugly game for Montreal. Arguably, the worst the team has played all season, and Canadiens fans were right to voice their displeasure.
Martin St. Louis owns the letdown, acknowledges Canadiens have to be better in Game 5
Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis knows a thing or two about fighting back from a 3-1 deficit. He accomplished that twice as a player. Once with the Tampa Bay Lightning against the Washington Capitals in 2004, and the other with the New York Rangers over the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2014.
The Habs could still come back in the Eastern Conference Final, but that doesn't stop St. Louis from understanding why his team heard boo birds from the Montreal faithful. Speaking to gathered media following the Game 4 blowout, the star-player-turned-coach offered the following.
"The game’s going to humble you," stated St. Louis. "Whenever you get humbled, you just stand tall. It’s not fun to hear that (mocking chants from the fans). But they’re not wrong." He continued, saying that "you’ve got to be mentally strong. You’ve got to believe. You’ve got to believe that you actually can do it. I don’t doubt. I believe that we can do it." This, according to James Mirtle of The Athletic.
St. Louis can't just believe, he needs to adjust in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final
St. Louis' sentiment is right on the money. If the Canadiens are going to come back against all odds against this buzzsaw Carolina team, it'll start with belief in the locker room. That can't be where the energy ends, however.
For three straight games, the Hurricanes have been one step ahead of Montreal in all three zones. The shot totals are lopsided to the point of looking like video game numbers, and the Canadiens' expected goal share doesn't paint them in a much better light in Game 4. Or Game 2 and 3, for the matter.
The Canadiens don't need to worry about the play of Jakub Dobes--hey, did you know his birthday was the same day as Game 4?--but pretty much everything else is fair game for St. Louis to shake up. He started mixing his lines in the second and third periods of Game 4, and that led to more shots on goal for Montreal, but it won't be enough to come all the way back in the Eastern Conference Final.
No, the changes that St. Louis and his staff need to make are of the X's and O's variety. Montreal has tried to stick to its identity of being offensively creative in Games 2, 3 and 4, but the results have been... awful. Every time the Canadiens try to break the puck out of the defensive zone, it seems like there are 8 Hurricane forecheckers on top of them.
Carolina has the Canadiens away from their high-IQ style, where they snap pucks around and let their skill carry the play up ice. A few brutal turnovers will shake a team's confidence, but Montreal needs their defense and supporting forwards to do a better job of working the puck up ice. Every play doesn't have to be picture perfect. Work for that first goal and go from there, one period at a time.
If they don't, the last sounds the Canadiens will have heard on home ice will be boos from an antsy fanbase who rightfully believe Montreal is a better team than it showed in Game 4.
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