BROSSARD, Que. — The Montreal Canadiens are hours away from taking to the ice at the Bell Centre for just the 41st game of this 82-game season, and yet it feels as though they’re running out of time to prove they’re a playoff contender.
Maybe it’s because they’re currently four points behind the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning (who have two games in-hand) for third place in the Atlantic Division and seven points back of the Philadelphia Flyers (who occupy the second wild-card position in the Eastern Conference). Or maybe it’s that they have to play the biggest game of their season on Thursday—and at least a couple more—without heart-and-soul winger Brendan Gallagher at their disposal.
But when you combine those factors with the reality that the Canadiens have only collected points in 52.5 per cent of their games and that they’ll likely need to earn points in 66 per cent of their remaining 42 games to make the playoffs, the situation seems quite dire. And that doesn’t even factor in strength of schedule, which is not in Montreal’s favour.
Dire turns to desperate if the Canadiens can’t earn a regulation win over the Lightning on Thursday. And if we’re being completely realistic, desperate can turn into utterly hopeless if this team doesn’t put together a winning streak immediately.
And they know it.
“This is playoff hockey right now. It is,” said Nick Cousins, who will play alongside Phillip Danault and Tomas Tatar in Gallagher’s absence Thursday. “Beat around the bush all you want, but right now it’s probably playoff hockey for us. These next stretch of games before the bye week are pretty crucial for us and (there’s) no better way to start off than against Tampa, who were chasing, and back at home in front of our fans.”
Cousins and co. seem confident they can use the game against the Lighting as a springboard, but even he acknowledged the odds are stacked against the Canadiens with Gallagher joining fellow top-six forwards Jonathan Drouin and Joel Armia and top-niner Paul Byron on the sidelines indefinitely.
“We’re just on the bad luck end of the spectrum right now,” Cousins said. “All the guys that were playing well for us (are out). Army, who was probably playing the best hockey of his career, and Jo who was probably playing the best hockey of his career when he got hurt (in November)…Paulie, who’s been consistent, two-time 20-goal scorer who’s been hurt for us for awhile now.”
And then there’s Gallagher.
It was in the second period of Tuesday’s 3-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes that the Canadiens’ assistant captain was hit by Jordan Staal. He was then propelled face-first into Canadiens teammate Ben Chiarot’s knee. And after Gallagher’s head bounced off the ice, he was escorted by Canadiens trainer Graham Rynbend to the visiting locker room.
The 27-year-old, who topped 30 goals in each of the last two seasons and was already up to 15 and on pace to record a career-high in points, did not return to the game. It will be at least another five days before we see him suit up for another one—he’s on the injured-reserve list retroactive to New Year’s Eve and has been diagnosed with a concussion—and those other key players for the Canadiens are not expected back before the final week of the month.
“Mostly probably after the break (from Jan. 18 to 26),” said Canadiens coach Claude Julien about when to expect Drouin, Armia and Byron to return. “We don’t anticipate… we might get one player, maybe two before the 18th, but right now we’ve got to push through these next three weeks and try to put some wins together. We’ve got 10 games in this stretch (before the bye week) and it’s going to be just as important as after those guys come back.”
In order for that to be true, the Canadiens not only have to keep pace with the Lightning, the Florida Panthers and Buffalo Sabres, but they’ll also have to keep the Atlantic Division’s second-placed Toronto Maple Leafs in sight and ensure they don’t fall any further back in the wild-card race.
“We have to play the right way,” said Julien. “We’re going to have to play well defensively, we’re going to have to look to win more tight games because we probably don’t have the depth to score the amount of goals we have since the beginning of the season.”
Given that only eight other teams have given up more goals per game than the Canadiens have, that’s going to be a huge challenge on its own.
It’s one they can’t possibly overcome if goaltender Carey Price doesn’t take his game up a few levels from where it’s been for most of the season—in 32 appearances, he has a .901 save percentage and a 3.03 goals-against average.
At this point, the Canadiens need everyone to carry the load.
“It’s not just injuries; it’s key guys that are injured,” said Cousins. “It’s tough to see. But at the same time (it’s) a chance for guys to step up, play more minutes and play a bigger role.”
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