Six losses in a row and only four victories in 15 matches.
The start of the season for the Montreal Canadiens leaves its mark and explanations are starting to be lacking in the Montreal camp.
A few moments after a 4-1 loss suffered against the Maple Leafs in Toronto on Saturday evening, head coach Martin St-Louis did not seek to complicate his explanations. He pointed out a certain lack of opportunism, but he also identified a mental weakness which hits his group hard.
“I think we are a fragile group that lacks confidence. Before the match, we were ready. In the first half, we missed five chances to score because we didn’t touch the goal. Their goal hits the back of our player. It’s a little deflating, but we finished the match,” lamented St-Louis in his comments to the media.
“Sometimes when you have a lack of confidence, it can be heavy for a player. Right now, I don’t think it’s a work ethic thing.
For a young team like the Canadiens, there is possibly nothing worse than a series of defeats to affect the team’s personal and collective confidence.
For the moment, Montreal is struggling to resolve the problem. The problems were so great that the Habs were dominated 29-12 during their losing streak.
It’s also a dry run for the best members of the team. Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki have been shut out in each of the last four games, while Mike Matheson has not collected a point in five games.
“Work ethic and attitude are important,” Suzuki said. We had some good matches, but we didn’t get the results we hoped for. We have to look towards the match on Monday”
“Some of us, myself included, have difficulty producing. I expect more from myself and I’m sure other players will too. We need the whole team to produce, otherwise we’re not going to win. »
“We lack a little confidence in our touches. Every player and every team goes through this, we will get through it,” St-Louis proclaimed.
For the moment, Brendan Gallagher is the only Canadiens player who has nothing to be ashamed of recently. After two difficult seasons, the veteran seems to be regaining energy this season and he has scored five goals in his last seven games.
For David Savard, Gallagher’s successes are not the result of chance. In fact, he even believes that the CH would benefit from taking inspiration from Gallagher to turn things around quickly.
“Gally is playing extremely well at the moment. He goes where it hurts, he manages to find the net. We must take an example from him. We have to keep things simple, we don’t create enough chances to score. »
