There haven’t been many positives for the Canadiens through the first 13 games this season.
Following Tuesday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Calgary Flames at the Bell Centre, the Canadiens had a 4-7-2 record, which had them in last place in the Atlantic Division and 29th in the overall NHL standings.
In Year 3 of their rebuild, the Canadiens are four points behind their pace from last season when they were 6-5-2 after 13 games and three points behind their pace from the previous season when they were 6-6-1. They are on a four-game losing streak (0-3-1) and are 2-6-2 in their last 10 games. Their minus-18 goal differential was the worst in the NHL through Tuesday’s games.
One bright spot has been the play of Brendan Gallagher, who scored his fifth goal of the season against the Flames. It looked like Gallagher had also scored his sixth goal to put the Canadiens up 3-1 in the third period, but it didn’t count after a video review showed that Josh Anderson put himself offside before setting up Gallagher.
The only Canadien with more goals than Gallagher is Cole Caufield, who was tied for the NHL lead with 10 through Tuesday’s games. Gallagher is on a pace to finish the season with 32 goals, one short of his career-high 33 in 2018-19.
“I’ve just never really been one of those guys that measures my game on goals and points,” Gallagher said after Tuesday’s game. “It comes when you do the right things and I feel right now the game feels simple to me. Playing with linemates that I feel comfortable with (Christian Dvorak and Josh Anderson against the Flames) and I can read off easy and we’re just playing a real simple game and when the chances come they’re finding ways to go in, which is nice. There’s going to be times where they don’t, but I think there’s certain areas of my game right now that I feel comfortable with. Forechecking is a big part of it and you just try to play to your strengths every night and hope you end up on the right side of it.”
Gallagher also got off to a good start last season, when he had five goals after 14 games. But he then went 24 games without a goal and finished the season with 16.
The 32-year-old still has two more seasons after this remaining on his contract with an annual salary-cap hit of US$6.5 million, which makes him the third-highest paid player on the team behind captain Nick Suzuki (US$7.875 million) and Caufield (US$7.850 million).
Former Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin signed Gallagher to a six-year, US$39-million contract extension on Oct. 14, 2020, after he had scored 31 goals in 2017-18, 33 in 2018-19 and 22 in 2019-20 when he was limited to 59 games because of a concussion that ended his consecutive games played streak at 229. In the five seasons since signing the contract extension — which kicked in for the 2021-22 season — Gallagher has scored 50 goals and missed 92 games because of injuries. He only missed five games last season because of a suspension for an illegal check to the head on New York Islanders defenceman Adam Pelech and scored five goals in the final five games. Gallagher now has 10 goals in his last 18 games dating back to last season.
Gallagher was healthy at the end of last season for the first time in a long time, which allowed him to have a full summer of training.
“It’s still early in the year, continue to do the work, but yeah, I feel good,” he said.
Going through a rebuilding process isn’t easy, especially for a veteran like Gallagher in his 13th NHL season with a goal of winning a Stanley Cup before he retires. The Canadiens made the playoffs in six of his first nine seasons with the team and went to the Stanley Cup final in 2021.
“We all have a job to do,” Gallagher said about the rebuilding process. “There’s no bad days in this league. You enjoy every day here at the rink and I really enjoy being around this group of guys, specifically. We’re fighting for results right now. I think what I really appreciate is guys are putting the work in, guys have expectations and we’re trying to hold each other to a certain standard. No one’s happy with the results we’re getting right now, but we’re going to continue to put in the work. When you’re part of a group like that it’s easy coming to the rink every day.
“I just believe in these guys a lot,” Gallagher added. “I have belief in the growth. I get to see them away from the rink as well and there’s a lot of competitive guys in this room that are willing to put in that work. … I feel comfortable. It’s a place I’ve called home for a long time, so I would love nothing more than to get back to playing some competitive hockey around here.”
Gallagher is doing his part so far this season.