Press briefing from a frustrated coach after a loss sometimes makes for good television. Michelle Terrain’s Journey with the Penguins, who suggested that his players get “50% of their paychecks because they only play 50% of the time,” is a classic story that insiders read by heart.
The same goes for Guy Carboneau, who, after losing to Detroit, stated that he could not jump on ice. “Kirk Muller can’t walk on ice,” he was keen to add.
In the risk of disappointing you, this kind of bang will likely never happen with Dominique Ducharme, because he seems to be constantly in control of his emotions. Under the circumstances, his reaction to the Canadians’ unexplained 4-1 loss to Calgary Flames on Wednesday could be the closest to a crisis.
“We got what we deserved, that’s it,” he said dryly as a first answer. Tone is set.
We can understand his frustration. In general, he sees his team leaving a golden opportunity to secure their place in the qualifiers in advance, which will eventually allow them to breathe a little. The Habs still have three matches postponed on Flames, but their lead by just four points, and seeing how Alberta residents annoy Montreal residents, may melt that advance to two points on Friday.
Specifically, he saw his team dominating one aspect of the game that shouldn’t be a problem, which is puck fights. All this despite the fact that the Canadian had a vacation on Tuesday, while Flames went overtime, in Toronto, before returning in the late evening to Montreal.
“We knew the conditions were in our favor, and we could take them one step ahead of them,” defender Brett Colak said.
When it gets alarming for Ducharme and the team’s staff, Mark Bergevin has meticulously built a team that must avoid this kind of problem. When he took office, Bergevin inherited a weak team, the core of which consisted of young players, at a time when not even the strongman – Brandon Prost – was a gigantic.
In recent months, this team has put their hands on weightlifters Eric Stahl, Josh Anderson, Corey Perry and Joel Edmondson, who have joined Ben Shearrott, Shea Weber and Jeff Petrie among the “no-normal” men.
Despite this, see how Ducharme described how the flame went to trample CH.
“It’s a patient team, sending pucks in the back of the area, which creates a lot of fights. We didn’t win enough. They largely dominated us in that aspect. It’s up to the basics of the game, where the level of competition was higher on the other side.” ”
“The first two were point shots.” “We need to clean the front of the net better,” recalls Petrie, who was unable to pull Elias Lindholm out of the goalkeeper’s line of sight for the second goal.
Then, on third base, it is Webber, Colac, and Josh Anderson to lose a fight for the disc, before Webber returns the ball to the stick of Josh Levo’s enemy.
Ironically, this disturbing decline in power coincides with the loss of Brendan Gallagher, one of the last survivors of the old “young” team, but his participation left no doubt. Without Gallagher, he was now a small victory in five matches and scored only nine goals.
The solutions will not come from outside, after the deal deadline has passed. They will also not come from Laval; If Cole Caufield were called up, it would be mainly because of his blast in attack, not to pack the opposing big defenders and win fights for the disc. Not at 20 and 170 lbs!
In short, solutions must come from within. Chiarot’s upcoming comeback might help, but it won’t magically solve some odd cases like Weber, specifically, who has been out of recognition now for a very long time.
These solutions must come quickly, otherwise Al-Kindy will allow a competitor deemed defeated to come to the surface. And to complicate the already busy season.
in detail
A rare goal for Colak
It is always a shame for a player who rarely scores in defeat by his side. That’s kind of the reason for Bret Colac’s sober celebration after the meeting, even though he finished a streak of 95 matches of the season without a goal – 105 if you included last summer’s playoffs. Jonathan Drouin accepted a pass in the middle of the ice and darted into the opposite area. Shrugging off the cover of Noah Hanifin, he finds himself alone in front of Jacob Markstrom, who foils him with a nice shot from the side of the shield. The defender scored 9e The goal is in the NHL. “The team doesn’t expect me to commit a crime,” Colak said. I don’t feel any pressure, it’s not my style. But if there is an opportunity, I go. Alexander Romanov, with 36 matches, is now “claiming” the Canadians’ longest unbroken streak.
False starts
Dominic Ducharme confirmed the fact that his team spent a lot of time in his area. The reasons for these failures are manifold, but one number is clear: Al-Kindy has won only four of the 21 matches in his region, five to five. Eric Stahl (2 of 3) did well, but Philip Danault (1 of 9), Nick Suzuki (1 of 4) and Gisbury Kotkaniemi (0 of 4) were pitiful. Ducharme agreed that with just over a quarter of the season remaining, it was too late for permanent reforms in the field, especially for the younger midfielders. He said, “They have to face the guys who have been doing this for 10, 12, 15 years in this league and have a lot of things in their toolbox.” The result is clear: “When you don’t have a disc, you have to run after it. On the same theme, Flames goalkeeper Jacob Markstrom points out that the burden is not just on the midfielders.” Wings and defenders must be vigilant to jump onto the disc. He remembers that it is a team effort.
No more time to waste
No matter how much the Flames coach claims he is not, his men have already spread the proverbial “energy of despair”. The Flames have a big gap to close on the Canadian in the standings – four points with three fewer matches to play – but they haven’t given up yet. Especially with four more duels to play against the Habs over the next ten days. “We had to start with the right foot, and we did,” said defender Noah Hanifin. It gives us a good foundation for the future. Flames have now won their last three matches, against three of the top four teams in the Northern Division. Upon arriving at the club’s head in March, Sutter noted that his men had recently taken advantage of the unscheduled leave caused by the COVID-19 outbreak in the Vancouver Canucks, allowing his team to train and strengthen its “structure”. “It’s hard work to play game after game. It takes practice. Once the structure is in place, you can trust him at times when things aren’t going well.”
They said
Tonight, we didn’t have enough players to play to their full potential. We need more players appointed.
Dominic Ducharme
We cannot send pucks to the network. We need shooters to find a solution, rather than blocking our shots and starting the game over again.
Nick Suzuki
We are also fighting for a place in the qualifiers. The next matches against them will be big. We must be desperate.
Nick Suzuki
With the amount of videos that we watch, and the things that we work on in training, we have plenty of time to work on the system. It is my mind. We have to focus on our style, and whatever happens, we have to trust it. With the streak emerging, we should be at the top of our game.
Geoff Petrie
We have players of all styles. Our system can defeat all teams. We know we have the guys to do the job, go far and win the Stanley Cup. We want to start this match again.
Brett Colack
We got off to a good start. We knew we had to send pucks behind their defenders and play very fast against them. We’ve done it the last few times and have had to do it again. Expect another big game [vendredi].
Noah Hanifin, The Flames wins four consecutive victories against CH
Our team has never had a problem with self-confidence. The problem was his inability to keep up with the rest of the league. It is not something that changes overnight.
Daryl Suter, on his club’s recent successes
We have 13 games left, though [Jacob Markström] Play them all, it would make him roughly the same total as last year. It’s not much for him.
Daryl Suter
There is nothing I love more than snowboarding with 20 men who want to win as much as I do. This is what we play hockey for. I feel good, I’m ready.
Jacob Markstrom on the same topic
Height
Josh Anderson
He nearly opened the scoring on his debut and played hard all evening.
In decline
Thomas Tatar
Things have been going well for him lately, but he disappeared on Wednesday.
Match number
3
This is the number of goals the Canadians have scored in their last four matches against Flames. They are the true black house of confinement …
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