Have you ever gotten yourself all dolled up on a Friday night, ready to go for a night on the town, only to find that when you got there, there was really nothing going on?
Well, that would be the best way to describe the Montreal Canadiens right now, as they are about to embark on a major milestone, celebrating the organization's 100th anniversary, yet the team sits dismally in 12th position in the Eastern Conference and are lugging a listless four-game losing streak into the anniversary celebration tonight in Montreal.
"I think we have to give a good performance to our fans," said Montreal centreman Maxim Lapierre of the commemoration. "It's the 100-year anniversary, (so) we cannot let them down."
Not letting down the Montreal faithful at the Bell Centre tonight may be a tall order for the Canadiens, who are reeling after consecutive losses to Pittsburgh, Washington, Toronto and Buffalo.
"We need these two points," said Lapierre. "We have to play a great game."
The Habs played anything but a great game Tuesday when they suffered a 3-0 loss at the hands of the suddenly-surging Toronto Maple Leafs, and the story was not much different last night in Buffalo, where the visitors surrendered three first-period goals, en route to a 6-2 defeat.
"We have to be sharper mentally and physically and be prepared to work," said Canadiens defenceman Josh Gorges. "It's not going to work when you try to do everyone else's job and try to do it by yourself. We have to play as a team."
The Sabres struck early and often Thursday night, determined to take Montreal out of the game before they even had a chance to get in it. Goals by Clarke MacArthur, Jason Pominville and Derek Roy within the first eight-and-a-half minutes of the contest seemingly did the Habs in, as they were buried in a hole that was simply too steep to climb out from.
"I thought we didn't come out as hard as we should," said Lapierre. "We have to play better than that."
Montreal netminder Jaroslav Halak would be beaten for a fourth time early in the second by Tim Kennedy, and it wasn't until 16:50 of the middle stanza that the Canadiens showed their first signs of life, as Scott Gomez converted on a 2-on-1 with Sergei Kostitsyn, beating Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller on just Montreal's eighth shot of the contest.
"On our first shift, we could have scored that first goal and things could have been different," said Montreal's Tomas Plekanec. "It seems to be happening to us every game. It could have been 1-0 for us; instead it was 3-0 for them."
Through two periods of play in the hockey game, it looked much like a game of men against boys, as Buffalo dominated large portions of play and outshot their Northeast division rival 29-8.
Montreal eventually came alive in the third period, looking as though they finally had some jump in their step, and, with just under nine minutes to play, cut the deficit to two when Gorges pounced on a rebound, potting his second goal of the season.
That was as close as the 99-year-364-day-old Canadiens would come, as Andrej Sekera and Mike Grier would tally late goals for the Sabres, who lead the Northeast in wins with 16 and points with 34.
When looking at their centennial birthday celebration, the milestone has become secondary for the Canadiens, as they are hoping to avoid tying a season-high five-game losing streak tonight against Boston.
"Right now, the most important thing is two points," said Gorges. "We can't be thinking about the hoopla and the pre-game show and everything that's going to come with it. We have to make sure that we're ready to play when that puck drops (…) and be desperate to get those two points.
"It's never an easy game when you play Boston. They play physical, they play hard, and there's a hatred between the two teams. We have to make sure that we step up to the challenge and make sure we're going out there (and) dictating the play, instead of sitting back and watching."
"I think if anything we should be excited about (the anniversary)," said Habs defenceman Ryan O'Byrne. "It's the 100th anniversary and it's a salute to all the great players that have put on a Montreal Canadiens' jersey (…) We're going to be buzzing - especially after what happened tonight (against Buffalo) - it's our 100th anniversary, so we'll be ready to go."
After their 100th birthday clash with Boston, the Canadiens will host the Philadelphia Flyers Dec. 7, before travelling to Ottawa the following day. Montreal will host Pittsburgh Dec. 10 and travel to Atlanta two days later, en route to a rematch with the Sabres at home Dec. 14.
Current Comments
1 comments so far (post your own)That was quite the celebration last night for the Habs - first they had a ton of history in the arena, then followed it up with a big win over a division rival. They're not quite contenders, but they're far from out of it too.
Posted by Mark Milner on Saturday, December 5, 2009 @ 12:29pm