If you want to be half-glass full about it, after five straight losses — and eight in the last 10 games — you could say the building blocks were established in this dominant game the Montreal Canadiens played in Winnipeg on Saturday night.
But the Canadiens lost once again, this time 2-1 in overtime to the Winnipeg Jets, and there’s no telling how they’ll react come Tuesday at the Bell Centre against an Ottawa Senators team that’s beaten them in three of four games this season.
Interim head coach Dominique Ducharme said he told his players they deserved better, that he was pleased with what he saw in their implementation of the strategies he’s advanced since taking over for Claude Julien mid-week.
“It wasn’t perfect,” Ducharme said. “But when I say the game is honest and the points will come back to you, they’re going to come back this season at a point when we don’t deserve two points.”
Maybe he’s right. But who knows?
All things being equal, you’d think if the Canadiens play anywhere near as well at 5-on-5 as they did against Winnipeg — they out-shot the Jets 37-11 and out-chanced them 36-14 — a win’s in the bag come Tuesday.
But sometimes it takes more than that.
It takes a functional power play to come through in a tight game. It takes a good penalty kill. It takes players digging in and winning key faceoffs.
And this is where the Canadiens were undone against the Jets.
Nick Suzuki said after the game that it takes 60 minutes. “That’s what it’s going to take every night in the NHL.”
But the Canadiens should know by now, with this loss being the fifth one they’ve suffered in extra time this season, sometimes it takes 61 or 62, or more than 65.
This team can bank all the positive that came with its strong play at 5-on-5. It can even hope it carries forward.
But until these four trouble spots — the power play, the penalty kill, faceoffs and 3-on-3 overtime — get at least partially addressed, wins will be harder and harder to come by.
The power play entered the game as the 18th-best one in the NHL. It generated some good opportunities. That it got set up in the offensive zone and that its designed plays were almost perfectly executed, were pluses.
But on two of three shots that hit Connor Hellebuyck, Joel Armia was right there to provide a screen and he shifted out of the way and made the goalie’s job easier. On the other one, Corey Perry parked himself right in front of the Jets netminder and Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s shot somehow (unfortunately) found glove.
The penalty kill found the right balance between passivity and aggression — something it had struggled immensely to do in the games leading up to this one — but a lost faceoff by Jake Evans and a curious decision by Alexander Romanov (who otherwise had an excellent game) to try to play goalie instead of taking his man screened Canadiens goaltender Jake Allen and gave Nikolaj Ehlers a goal.
Moments before that, Phillip Danault won a defensive zone draw clean and the puck went down the ice, and the Canadiens kept it out of their own end for 1:20. But the loss from Evans later was a killer for the 22nd-ranked penalty kill in the NHL.
The Canadiens came into the game with the 28th-best faceoff numbers and made them worse. That element of the game cost them both in regulation and overtime.
The Jets threw three forwards over the boards to start the extra frame, with Paul Stastny at centre and Ehlers and Kyle Connor roving. Montreal countered with Jeff Petry on defence, which makes sense considering he’s been among the three highest-scoring blue-liners in the NHL all season, and Armia was out there because Ducharme said he thought he was one of the Canadiens’ best players in the game.
Danault came on for one reason and one reason only.
“The first thing for me was that they have three forwards, we have to take possession of the puck right away,” said Ducharme. “I don’t want to say exactly what we wanted to do, but if we take possession of the puck and we keep it, I think at one point we can pick the right time with good changes to make them pay.”
It’s a logical explanation, but Danault lost the faceoff cleanly and the Canadiens didn’t touch the puck again until Allen was fishing it out of their net.
He’s been through losing spells like these. The last one he was a part of was with the St. Louis Blues, who spiralled to last in the NHL, fired head coach Mike Yeo, replaced him with Craig Berube and then went on to win the Stanley Cup.
The turnaround, Allen said Saturday, took two to three weeks.
The Canadiens don’t have that much time in this shortened season.
“We finally got all on one page,” said Allen of those 2019 Cup-winning Blues. “I think that’s the biggest thing.”
The goaltender, who made 17 saves against the Jets, saw evidence the Canadiens are almost there.
“I think we’re really gelling here to all get on one page,” said Allen. “I liked what we brought to the table yesterday and today, and obviously tomorrow’s a travel day, but we’ll get back to work Monday.”
But the Canadiens need to win Tuesday for some optimism to really take hold.
HOUSTON (AP) — Brian White scored in the second half to rally the Vancouver Whitecaps to a 1-1 draw with the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday night.
Houston (12-9-8) took a 1-0 lead into halftime after Ezequiel Ponce scored on a penalty kick in the seventh minute of stoppage time. Ponce’s third goal this season came after Amine Bassi drew a foul on Whitecaps midfielder Pedro Vite following a video review. It was Ponce’s sixth career appearance, all starts.
Vancouver (13-8-7) scored the equalizer in the 73rd minute when White, who entered in the 60th, used assists from Fafá Picault and Ryan Gauld to find the net for the 13th time this season. Picault’s assist was his fifth, matching his career high for a single season. Gauld’s assist gives him a career-best 13 on the season.
Yohei Takaoka, who had clean sheets in his last three starts, finished with one save in goal for the Whitecaps.
Steve Clark saved three shots for the Dynamo, who remain one point behind Vancouver in the Western Conference standings.
Houston, which was coming off a 4-1 victory over Real Salt Lake, has allowed just 33 goals this season.
Vancouver — 6-2-2 in its last 10 matches overall — leads the all-time series 10-9-6.
The Whitecaps remain on the road to play the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday. The Dynamo travel to play Austin FC on Saturday.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Tom Pearce and Nathan Saliba scored in the second half — the first goals of their careers — and CF Montreal rallied for a 2-2 draw with the New England Revolution on Wednesday night.
“In the second half, the guys came out a little more ambitious and above all, more connected,” Montreal head coach Laurent Courtois said. “It was a great second half of resilience and fighting spirit. Nathan and Sam were impressive.
“Impressive in covering the gaps and compensating for the teammates, and the individual defending – yes it’s true, it is a lot of weight on their shoulders, but that’s the job.”
New England (8-16-4) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute on Bobby Wood’s third goal of the season. Teenage defender Peyton Miller notched his first assist in his fourth career start and sixth appearance and Carles Gil picked up his ninth of the season. Peyton, at 16 years, 315 days old, is the eighth youngest player in league history to record his first assist.
The Revolution took a two-goal lead in the 35th minute and held it through halftime when 19-year-old Esmir Bajraktarevic took a pass from Gil and scored his third goal of the season and career in his first full season in the league. It was the 73rd regular-season assist in Gil’s career, tying him with Steve Ralston for the most in club history.
Montreal (7-12-10) pulled within a goal in the 54th minute when Pearce scored off a free kick after defender George Campbell drew a foul on New England’s Mark-Anthony Kaye. It was the first goal for Pearce in his third career start and fourth appearance.
“Playoffs are the goal. Maybe it wasn’t in the best form, but in the end, we are picking up a point,” Pearce said. “We came into this game confident, ready to play our own game. Everyone tries their best, whenever the players are called on, we are always ready, and we are always giving it our best.”
Montreal scored the equalizer in the 68th minute on the first career goal by Saliba, a 20-year-old midfielder. Saliba has made 34 starts and 48 appearances with Montreal in his two seasons in the league. Campbell snagged his second assist of the season and the third of his career.
“It’s an incredible feeling, it’s a goal I’ve been waiting for a long time. I’m extremely happy that I was able to score it and that it can help the team take this important point on the road,” Saliba said. “Pearce’s first goal gave us really good momentum and we kept up the pressure to go for a second goal. We got more solid defensively, and we came back ready after halftime, to push for these 3 points.”
Aljaz Ivacic finished with four saves in goal for the Revolution.
Jonathan Sirois stopped four shots for Montreal.
New England beat Montreal 5-0 on the road on Aug. 24.
New England leads the all-time series 16-13-4. Montreal improves to 5-8-2 on the road against the Revs.
The Revolution travel to take on Charlotte FC on Saturday. Montreal returns home to host the Chicago Fire on Saturday.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Adolis García hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning, Cody Bradford pitched seven strong innings after the worst start of his career, and the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 on Wednesday night.
The win kept the defending World Series-champion Rangers alive in the AL West race, trailing first-place Houston by 10 games with 10 to play.
García launched an inside sinker over the left-field wall off Toronto starter Bowden Francis (8-5) after Wyatt Langford singled.
“He swings hard, he swings a lot,” Francis said of García. “I guess the velo was dropping during that time.”
Bradford (6-3) allowed five hits and no walks while striking out six.
The seven shutout innings are the most in a game during his two-year career. He was knocked out of his previous start after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and homers (three) in 3 2/3 innings in a 14-4 loss at Arizona.
“Throughout the week, you’ve got to try and digest what happened, see where I can make adjustments, whether it was just game plan went wrong or just poor execution, or a little bit of both,” Bradford said. “Then you flush it.”
Bradford was perfect through four innings before Alejandro Kirk opened the fifth with a smash back to the mound that caromed off Bradford’s left foot and rolled into right field for a single. It extended Kirk’s hitting streak to a career-high 12 games.
Spencer Horwitz’s double to left-center put runners on second and third with no outs before Bradford retired the next three batters.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider credited Bradford’s “deceptive fastball.”
“When you’re throwing 89, 92, you’ve got to have pretty good deception with that at this level,” Schneider said. “Kept us off balance.”
Kirby Yates pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 31st save in 32 opportunities.
Francis, who took no-hitters into the ninth inning in two of his previous four starts, allowed a double to Marcus Semien, the Rangers’ first hitter of the game. He gave up five hits and one walk in six innings.
Francis has a 1.96 ERA in nine starts with 54 strikeouts and seven walks since being moved back into the starting rotation in late July.
“I don’t even want to get complacent, on cruise control,” Francis said. “Just keep attacking.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette was a late scratch with a right middle finger contusion suffered during infield practice. Schneider said the team will get back x-rays on Thursday. Bichette was activated Tuesday following a calf injury and played for the first time in two months, going 2 for 5 with one RBI at the plate. … INF Will Wagner (left knee inflammation) will have the knee scoped on Thursday. Schneider said Wagner should be ready to start spring training. Wagner, son of former major leaguer Billy Wagner, was acquired from Houston at the trade deadline.
UP NEXT
Rangers rookie RHP Kumar Rocker (0-0, 2.25 ERA) will make his home debut against Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gausman (12-11, 4.02) in the series finale. Rocker allowed one run in four innings at Seattle last Thursday in his major league debut.
