- Anaheim goaltender John Gibson stood on his head during the second period.
When you see the team with over 100 years of history attain a franchise record, you know it’s something special. Last night in the second period, down 3-0 the Montreal Canadiens started firing from every single conceivable angle at Ducks goalie John Gibson with a grand total of 30 shots in those 20 minutes.
Unfortunately for Montreal, Gibson helped the Ducks get a franchise record with 28 saves in that same frame, only allowing two goals to Paul Byron and Brendan Gallagher.
He finished the game with 49 saves.
2. Derek Who?
With the Ducks having many of their core players (captain Ryan Getzlaf, Ryan Kesler, Sami Vatanen, Hampus Lindholm, Patrick Eaves) banged up and injured, they had to find replacements.
One of those was 27-year-old journeyman Derek Grant, a centre from Abbotsford, British Columbia, who prior to last night’s game had 92 games of NHL experience between five NHL clubs and zero goals. ZERO. Needless to say, he scored his first two against Carey Price last night.
Because of course he did.
3. Where’s the offence?
It was another game with a similar outcome. The Habs created chances but couldn’t muster enough finish and wound up with another loss, their seventh in a row. The last time they lost seven in a row? 1940.
Part of the reason for this early season slump is, well, how do I say this, they aren’t scoring. At all. Through eight games, they’ve only mustered 12 goals. They have also allowed 33, and yet they have the best goaltender in the game in Carey Price.
Their goal leaders are Drouin and Gallagher with two each. I know the season is young, but something definitely needs to happen and fast, or else the downward spiral will continue.
4. A change of scenery might be nice.
I’ve always found the best place to go after you’ve had a rough day, night or just had one of those days you want to erase, is to go home. Happily for the Canadiens, they are doing that, about to have a three-game stand at the Bell Centre. The Habs need a boost in morale, and after a rough stint in California, despite the nice weather, it may be to come back home.
Of course, being in the middle of a tailspin, they might not be too thrilled with the sentiment of the home fans and media. But they are just as hard on themselves.
I’m excited to see what will happen this week with tilts against the Florida Panthers, a rematch against the Kings and another one against the Rangers.
5. Is Bergevin’s job in jeopardy?
We can all agree that the season is starting off a lot slower than what was expected. This is especially true given the moves that the Canadiens made in the off-season, acquiring Drouin, and signing Ales Hemsky and Karl Alzner. However they lost some key pieces to the franchise. Andrei Markov went to the KHL, Mikhail Sergachev – who has more points than any Canadiens player – was traded in the Drouin deal, and let’s not forget Alexander Radulov, who chose to sign in Dallas with the Stars rather than stay with the Habs.
With that in mind, and the team losing its seventh straight game, does team owner and president Geoff Molson have to sit down with general manager Marc Bergevin and head coach Claude Julien and see what’s up or does he let this ship sail until it can no longer float?
The team will likely make a move to try and turn things around. What will it be?
