Coming off a three-day break, the Montreal Canadiens put forth a stinker on Wednesday night against the Philadelphia Flyers. Their schedule presented them with a golden opportunity to flip that script the very next night, a meeting with the lowly San Jose Sharks on home ice. Surely, this would be a game that they
Well, the worst team in the NHL played at the Bell Centre last night, but if you were to judge which team that was based on that game alone, it wasn’t San Jose.
The Habs were outshot, out-attempted, out-chanced, and simply outclassed by what is considered to be the worst team in the NHL right now. Maybe this was just a bad game for Montreal, but to have that flat of an effort against a supposedly inferior opponent is incredibly frustrating. It was arguably their worst game of the season to date, and it is hard to see how they could possibly top it from here out.
They did manage a far better first period than they had the night prior, but it was all downhill from there. Tempting though the excuse of fatigue on a back-to-back may be, it rings rather hollow when you consider that they had three nights off before the Flyers game, and these are professional athletes. They should be quite capable of skating with energy two nights in a row.
Losses are fine this season. Hell, there is even a large “team tank” section of the fan base actively cheering for more losses. But nobody, not even the tank purists could have enjoyed watching how listless they looked against a team they should be able to handle every time.
Again, losses are fine, but losing like that against the frontrunners in the Celebrini Sweepstakes is something that can’t be tolerated. They have to be better than that.
Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available wherever you get your podcasts. We will return this Saturday, following the Habs’ game against the Edmonton Oilers.
