“The Canadiens allow more goals than in Dominique Ducharme’s worst moments”

Dose
Crédit: MONTREAL, CANADA - APRIL 4: Martin St-Louis head coach of the Montreal Canadiens looks on during the warm-up of the NHL regular season game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Bell Centre on April 4, 2024 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Vitor Munhoz/NHLI via Getty Images)

I know it, you know it: things aren’t going very well for the Canadiens these days. They’re getting beaten more often than not, and it’s often because they’re giving away a ton of goals.

Over the past ten days, they’ve lost games in which they’ve allowed seven, eight and six goals. It’s hard to win when your opponent scores so often.

So for a while now, we’ve been talking about the young brigade, the man-to-man system, the goalies who aren’t doing their job and the coaches’ job, for one simple reason: the results are catastrophic on the ice.

And yesterday, at around the 9-minute mark of the podcast Sortie de zone(La Presse, 98.5 FM), Alexandre Pratt made a statement that, at first glance, seems intense:

The Canadiens allow more goals than in Dominique Ducharme’s worst moments. – Alexandre Pratt

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Now, while that may seem like a bit of an exaggeration considering the bad memories of that distant era, it’s not completely untrue either.

In 11 games so far this season, the Habs have allowed 46 goals. That’s appalling, but in reality, the Habs under Ducharme have seen worse: in January 2022 (just before the coaching change), the Canadiens allowed 54 goals in 11 games.

However, to take this last statistic out of context would be a tad dishonest. At the time, the club was completely decimated by injuries, and for a game or two, the COVID-19 forced the Habs to play with a few less players.

The Habs’ 2024-25 edition doesn’t have such excuses. Kaiden Guhle’s absence hurt the club, of course, but apart from a few guys who missed games here and there, the club is generally healthy.

And don’t make me believe that Patrik Laine is making the team concede more goals.

Eventually, Martin St-Louis’ “concepts” will have to translate into results. I’m one of those people who didn’t really believe in the Habs’ chances of making the playoffs this year, and I was expecting a year of misery, but there are ways of losing that are unacceptable.

And since the start of the season, the Canadiens have been finding them one after the other. That’s got to change.

Overtime

– Phew.

– Pierre Houde honored with Hewitt Award. [NHL]

– Hats off.

– Will it happen?

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