Canadiens Game Day: Dominique Ducharme trying to put his stamp on team – Montreal Gazette

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Dominique Ducharme was thrown into the deep end without a life jacket as new head coach of the Canadiens.

Ducharme didn’t even have a chance to hold one full practice before his first game behind the bench, Thursday night’s 6-3 loss to the Jets in Winnipeg, one day after taking over from Claude Julien

It would have made much more sense for GM Marc Bergevin to have made the coaching move early last week when the Canadiens had a six-day break in the schedule and Ducharme would have had time to make the changes he wants to put in place.

Ducharme had a morning skate before Thursday’s game, a practice on Friday and another morning skate Saturday before the Canadiens face the Jets again Saturday night in Winnipeg (10 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).

Thursday night’s game was the first of 18 games in 34 days for the Canadiens through the end of March, so there won’t be much practice time for Ducharme. As a result, his morning skates will have to be mini practices.

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After Saturday’s morning skate, Ducharme said his morning skates won’t be as long and won’t have the same physical intensity of a practice, but there will always be a reason why they’re doing something on the ice, whether it be little details in the system or structure with and without the puck.

“Every time we’ll be going on the ice, everything we’ll do will be a reflection of something we want to work on,” Ducharme said in a video conference Saturday morning. “Something specific to the game.”

The Canadiens had a strong start to Thursday night’s game, taking a 2-0 lead in the first period and they were leading 3-1 midway through the second period before things fell apart. The Canadiens are winless in their last four games (0-2-2) and are in fourth place in the North Division with a 9-6-4 record after getting off to a 7-1-2 start to the season.

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The Calgary Flames (10-10-2) beat the Ottawa Senators 6-3 Saturday afternoon to move into a tie with the Canadiens for fourth place. The Canadiens hold three games in hand.

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When asked what he didn’t see from his team Thursday night that he’s hoping to see Saturday night, Ducharme said: “There are many things. You know when we played that first game, we had a meeting the night before. We had one morning skate to prepare. We really explained to the guys a few things that we want to focus on right from the get-go. But we had no time to practise. That’s why I didn’t mind our first half of the game.

“With everything that happened before in the last few hours before we played, I didn’t mind how we reacted at first,” Ducharme added. “But we cracked. We got a better idea of why now, the players. They didn’t understand a little bit more. Tonight I’m confident to see those things that we talked about really taking a big step on maybe four or five things that we talked about.”

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Defenceman Ben Chiarot spoke Saturday morning about Ducharme bringing a fresh, new voice to the team.

“He has a certain way that he wants us to play and a little different style and systems,” Chiarot said. “He’s just been instructing us on what he likes to see defensively first and once we get that in place then we can kind of move forward and out with the puck and what we’re doing with the puck. So it’s just been a lot of instruction on how he wants us to defend and I think that’s what you’ve been seeing the last couple of days.”

Jake Allen will be in goal for the Canadiens Saturday night. He has a 4-2-1 record with a 2.14 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage. The Canadiens were shut out in both of Allen’s regulation-time losses.

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Anderson doubtful for game

Right-winger Josh Anderson didn’t take part in the morning skate and is doubtful for Saturday night’s game after being injured late in the first period of Thursday night’s game. Anderson appeared to be slew-footed by Jets defenceman Dylan DeMelo and fell awkwardly on his back, suffering a lower-body injury.

“The chances are slim for him to be in the lineup tonight,” Ducharme said about Anderson, who has 9-3-12 totals in 19 games. “He’s still getting treatments and things like that. He’s doubtful tonight.”

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Evans ready to return

Jake Evans will take Anderson’s spot in the lineup if he can’t play after being made a healthy scratch for the first time this season on Thursday night.

“Obviously, you want to be playing every time, but I completely understood,” Evans said about Ducharme’s decision to sit him out. “The explanation I got was just a fresh start and a new way of doing things. One of the biggest things that we talked about the night before the game was just being a good teammate. So that was a big thing for me. I understood and I just wanted to work hard and get my chance to get back in the lineup.”

Evans has 2-1-3 totals and is plus-1 in 18 games while averaging 12:04 of ice time and winning 51.3 per cent of his faceoffs. The Canadiens selected him in the seventh round (207th overall) of the 2014 NHL Draft.

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“To be honest, I think my approach every game is to play like it could be my last and if I have a bad game I could be out and never get that opportunity again,” the 24-year-old Evans said. “So it’s never really been about who’s coming up behind me or who could be taking my spot. It’s about me and not throwing away an opportunity like this.”

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Coaching differences

Evans was asked about the personality differences between the 60-year-old Julien and and the 47-year-old Ducharme as coaches.

“I think they were both great,” he said. “Claude’s been giving me a lot of opportunity and it was great to have him. I guess sometimes you just need a fresh face. Dom’s been a very vocal guy and I think he’s talked with everyone a few times so far. So that’s been good to get that feedback.”

Ducharme, who joined the Canadiens as an assistant coach before the 2018-19 season, has made a point to talk with all his players one-on-one since taking over as head coach.

“I’m trying to talk to 24 guys every day and sometimes it’s just asking how he is and it takes five seconds, 10 seconds,” he said. “Sometimes it’s about the game, it’s about details, it’s about the last game, it’s about progression, many things. We have a way of playing together that we’re putting in place. Within that, every individual here, there’s a reason they’re NHL players and we want them to bring those strengths to our team. But within our structure or our philosophy.”

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Working with Armia

There are games when Joel Armia looks like he should be a star in the NHL and other nights when the 6-foot-3, 212-pound right-winger is the Invisible Man.

You have to wonder if the 27-year-old realizes how good he could be. There’s a reason why the Buffalo Sabres selected him in the first round (16th overall) of the 2011 NHL Draft. He’s the complete package of size, speed, skill and shot. With his size, it’s too bad he doesn’t have a little bit of Brendan Gallagher or Paul Byron in him when it comes to compete level.

Armia scored the first two goals in Thursday night’s game, his first points in seven games since missing seven games with a concussion. Armia has 4-3-7 totals in 12 games.

“Army’s got world-class qualities as a player,” Ducharme said. “You guys saw him … he’s got good size, his skill sets are really, really good. It’s about being consistent and we started working together, me and him. There’s a few things in his game that when he’s consistent doing and when he’s going to do that every time then it’s going to reflect on being that good night in and night out.”

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Weber and Chiarot struggling

After a good start to the season, captain Shea Weber and Chiarot have been struggling as the team’s No. 1 defence pair.

Weber and Chiarot were both minus-2 in Thursday night’s game. Weber has been a minus player in seven of the last eight games and is a team-worst minus-2 for the season, while Chiarot is minus-1.

“I think when we’re defending hard, being hard to play against, moving the puck quick up to the forwards, I think that’s when we’re at our best,” Chiarot said. “Obviously, when the team’s not doing well it’s a reflection of everybody. It’s not one pair, or one line, or one guy. It’s everyone needs to be better when the team’s not winning and me and Shea are no different in that aspect.

“I think at this point it’s so important playing every other day you can’t be reflecting or feeling sorry for yourself on the losses,” Chiarot added. “You have to move forward and you have to be positive. Move forward to the next game and not be carrying the last game with you, especially after a couple of losses. It can weigh you down and slow you down. I think what’s important for our group right now is moving on and just focusing on the next game and not thinking about what’s happened over the last 10 days, two weeks, and remain positive and come out and just play like we know we can because we know we have a good team.”

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The lines

Here’s how the forward lines and defence pairings are expected to look for the Canadiens Saturday night if Anderson doesn’t play:

Tatar – Danault – Gallagher
Drouin – Suzuki – Toffoli
Lehkonen – Kotkaniemi – Armia
Byron – Evans – Perry

Chiarot – Weber
Edmundson – Petry
Kulak – Romanov

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What’s next?

The Canadiens will fly back to Montreal on Sunday afternoon and have an 11 a.m. practice scheduled for Monday at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard.

The Canadiens will play their next three games at the Bell Centre. The Ottawa Senators will be the visitors on Tuesday (7 p.m., TSN2, TSN5, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM), followed by two games against the Jets on Thursday (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM) and Saturday (7 p.m., SNE, SNW, CITY, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).

The Canadiens have a 3-5-0 record at the Bell Centre this season.

scowan@postmedia.com

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