First storm: tomorrow, the players will have to show “that they haven’t given up”.

Dans les Coulisses
Crédit: MONTREAL, QC - OCTOBER 22: Mike Matheson (8) of the Montreal Canadiens and Alex Newhook (15) trip during the first period of the NHL game between the New York Rangers and the Montreal Canadiens on Oct 22, 2024, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, QC(Photo by Vincent Ethier/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Let’s face it: what happened this week around the Canadiens was the first major storm to hit Martin St-Louis, Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton since they started working together in Montreal.

The loss to New York triggered something unlike any other setback since 2021-2022. It sent a wave of criticism against coach Martin St-Louis, who doesn’t “coach as hard” as some would like.

He’s had people calling for his head, and some already seem to be planning his exit.

Raising expectations of the club has that effect. Since the change of management, Habs fans have bought into the organization’s plan to rebuild the club.

Last year, Jeff Gorton’s “P-word” was bought.

But this year, management raised expectations (reluctantly or not, in your opinion?) publicly and the phrase #InTheMix arrived. And right now, the club is #InTheMix of… nothing at all.

It’s early days, but that’s what triggered the comments – including those about the pilot’s famous man-to-man system – following Tuesday’s game.

When you don’t expect anything from anyone or anything, expectations are low. Here, if there’s any passion, it’s because people had bought into the Canadiens’ 2024-2025 plan.

Logical, isn’t it?

Patrik Laine’s arrival alone wasn’t going to change everything, given his long absence in 2023-2024 (and not counting his new injury, of course), but his arrival had changed the vibe.

And it sent a message.

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That’s why the wall the Habs are hitting seems so huge: it’s because we haven’t really cared about walls in a long time. They didn’t mean anything.

But this one is significant. And the club knows it, if today’s long, intense practice is anything to go by. Colleague Marc-Olivier Cook was on hand to witness the intensity. More than usual, anyway.

But now the players have to put on their work boots. Now that they’ve had a few days without a game (and even celebrated Halloween on Wednesday night), they need to show that the start of the season was just a rough patch.

Am I saying we need to win 14 in a row? Of course not.

But we need to get back to where we were last year, when the effort was there and the games were close. Because right now, that’s not what we’re seeing.

Martin Leclerc, on BPM Sports this morning, even wondered if the guys aren’t resigned in the dressing room. It’s still a big statement… especially when you look at the date on the calendar.

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Between tomorrow and Saturday, November 2, the Habs will play five games. The Blues (Saturday at home), Flyers (Sunday on the road), Kraken (Tuesday at home), Capitals (Thursday on the road) and Penguins (Saturday on the road) are on the menu.

And starting tomorrow, it’s going to take some effort to change the narrative.

Not playing for days on end prevented the Canadiens from quickly recovering from Tuesday’s game against New York (a club built by Jeff Gorton, by the way).

But if, on the contrary, the guys put in performances worthy of the Canadiens’ blue, white and red jerseys, it’ll calm the rumblings. The ball’s in the players’ court… and it starts tomorrow night.

Overtime

– It’s all over for Kailer Yamamoto.

– They need to get back on track.

– Good point.

– Wow…