After getting shut out 4-0 by the Minnesota Wild last Thursday at the Bell Centre Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis said his team “lacked juice.”
When asked why that was — since it was the Wild who had played the night before, winning 3-1 in Toronto while the Canadiens had the night off — St. Louis said: “I don’t know. It’s 82 games. There’s nights, I know, you probably should have more juice than the other team. I don’t know. I just felt like we looked like we lacked juice.”
The day before the game against the Wild — after the Canadiens practised in Brossard — St. Louis said his team was basically trying to hang on until the 12-day break in the schedule for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, starting next Monday.
“I think it’s a chase to the break and trying to find a way here to get some points in these games and that break I think is going to benefit us with some of the bumps and bruises that we have,” St. Louis said. “I think it’s game-by-game right now.
“Of course, it hurts that we lost Emil (Heineman) and now we lose (Kaiden Guhle with injuries), but I think it’s part of the season. You just got to stay the course and keep working on the things you have to work on. We talk about next man up. It’s pretty much what it is. You feel like with the culture and the collective game that is not always perfect, but it’s in a much better place than it has been, whether we’re getting results or not … I think it could help us get us to the break.”
Instead the culture and collective game appear to be falling apart and the Canadiens are on a five-game losing streak (0-4-1) following Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the Ducks in Anaheim, during which they blew a 2-0 first-period lead. The loss dropped the Canadiens six points out of a wild-card playoff spot.
St. Louis is starting to lose his patience — and with good reason.
A lack of juice is one thing, but a lack of effort is something else.
That’s why St. Louis benched Patrik Laine and Kirby Dach for most of the third period in Anaheim after their lackadaisical defensive efforts cost the Canadiens a couple of goals. Laine was coasting on a backcheck when Frank Vatrano scored the Ducks’ second goal and Dach was an innocent bystander watching Alex Killorn score the winning goal.
During this five-game slump Laine has one assist and is minus-5 with only one shot on goal in each of the last three games. Only two of his 12 goals this season have come at even strength.
“I found he wasn’t helping the team at that moment,” St. Louis told reporters in Anaheim about his decision to bench Laine.
Over the last four games, Dach has no points and is minus-4 with only three shots on goal. Dach was minus-2 against the Ducks and he’s minus-27 on the season, tied for worst in the NHL.
Alex Newhook, the third linemate with Laine and Dach, has one assist in the last five games and is minus-3.
“It’s not a game where they were helping us at one end (of the ice) or the other,” St. Louis told reporters in Anaheim about his second line’s performance against the Ducks.
Laval Rocket head coach Pascal Vincent can relate to what St. Louis is going through now with Laine. Vincent experienced the same thing last season as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets when he benched Laine and then made him a healthy scratch for a game in November after he had 2-1-3 totals in the first nine games and was minus-6.
“I know what he can do on the ice,” Vincent said at the time. “I know his potential. He’s not happy about the decision, don’t get me wrong. But right now, I think Patty needs to take a deep breath. Go back to the working lab and get his touches back, get his shot back, get his confidence back, so he can be the Laine we all know he can be. It was a hard conversation, but nobody is bigger than the Blue Jackets.”
Vincent has done a fantastic job this season with the Rocket, who are sitting in first place in the North Division with a 28-11-3 record.
After practice Saturday in Anaheim, St. Louis spoke about how his team had to work harder.
“The effort has to be there,” the Canadiens coach said after Sunday’s game, “but the brain has to be there, too, the execution.”
The Canadiens worked hard to get back “in the mix” for a playoff spot by going 13-3-1 in the 17 games before this five-game slump. They have four games left before the 4 Nations break and if they don’t find more juice and improve the effort level their playoff hopes could be shattered by then.
“It’s not the time of the season that you want to get a slide, so we got to stop the bleeding,” St. Louis said.