STU COWAN
The Canadiens were back on the ice at 11 a.m. Friday in Brossard for a practice following Thursday night’s 3-0 loss to the New York Islanders at the Bell Centre.
With the Canadiens having a 1-2-0 record since Claude Julien replaced Michel Therrien behind the bench — scoring only thee goals during that span — the new coach juggled his lines at practice in preparation for Saturday’s game in Toronto against the Maple Leafs (7 p.m., CITY, CBC, TVA Sports, TSN Radio 690).
Here’s how the new lines looked:
Pacioretty – Danault – Radulov
Lehkonen – Galchenyuk – Gallagher
Byron – Plekanec – Shaw
Andrighetto – Desharnais – Mitchell
David Desharnais has been a healthy scratch for the last six games and Sven Andrighetto has been a healthy scratch for four games. Julien wouldn’t confirm they will be in the lineup Saturday night. The coach also wouldn’t confirm Carey Price will start in goal against the Leafs, saying he will make his decision on Saturday.
With seven defenceman rotating through the practice drills Friday it was tough to tell whether Julien will mix up his pairings on the blue line.
After Thursday’s game, Julien was asked if he had thought about splitting up his No. 1 defence pair of Alexei Emelin and Shea Weber, which had a tough night against the Islanders. Weber was minus-2 and Emelin minus-1 and they were brutal on the Islanders’ second goal by Anders Lee.
I'm not saying the Habs absolutely need to split up Emelin and Weber, but the Habs absolutely need to split up Emelin and Weber. pic.twitter.com/TYjafYXrX6
— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) February 24, 2017
“As far as our D’s were concerned, it was a tough night I think overall for everybody,” Julien said during his post-game news conference. “Our D’s tonight had a tough time making that first pass. So whether we would have switched that, I’m not sure it would have made a big difference because I felt all of our guys were having the same issues.”
Weber is minus-7 in the last seven games. After going plus-17 in his first 15 games, Weber is now plus-10 for the season. Eleven of Weber’s 14 goals and 19 of his 34 points have come on the power play.
After Friday’s practice Julien was asked again about his defence pairings and whether Emelin was the best fit beside Weber.
“Nothing’s set in stone here,” Julien said. “I can make changes and we’re three games in. You guys are asking me about making changes right away. I think it’s a matter of time here before I decide to make changes. Because you don’t stay with the status quo when you’re not winning hockey games. So there’s no doubt I have to think about making changes if things don’t work out.
“I know Shea’s played with Marky (Andrei Markov) as a pair and stuff like that,” the coach added. “Certainly something you could always go back to. Certainly an option here moving forward.”
You can watch Julien’s complete Friday post-practice news conference on the HI/O Facebook page.
(Photo: John Mahoney/Montreal Gazette)
Leafs closing in on Habs
The third-place Maple Leafs are only four points behind the Canadiens, who still lead the Atlantic Division standings with a 32-21-8 record, and Toronto (28-20-12) holds a game in hand.
The second-place Ottawa Senators (32-20-6) are only two points behind the Canadiens and hold three games in hand. The Senators can catch the Canadiens with a victory over the Hurricanes Friday night in Carolina (7:30 p.m., TSN5, RDS).
After Thursday’s loss to the Islanders, the Canadiens were sitting in fifth place in the overall Eastern Conference standings, four points ahead of the ninth-place Boston Bruins with eight teams making the playoffs. Last season it took 93 points to make the playoffs and the Canadiens need 21 points in their last 21 games to reach that mark.
As for the Leafs, Julien said after Friday’s practice: “They got a lot of first-round picks that were early picks, and it makes a big difference. Those teams obviously finished low for many years to be able to get those kind of players. Babs (coach Mike Babcock) has done a great job with them in bringing those kids along. There’s a lot of skill and there’s obviously a lot of speed in that lineup so we have to play smart.
“They can be energetic, but we have to use our experience to our advantage.”
Auston Matthews, the No. 1 overall pick at last year’s NHL Draft, leads the Leafs in scoring with 28-24-52 totals, followed by Mitch Marner (15-33-48), a first-round pick in 2015, and Nazem Kadri (25-22-47), a first-round pick in 2009. William Nylander, a first-round pick in 2014, has 17-25-42 totals. Defenceman Morgan Reilly, a first-round pick in 2012, has 3-19-22 totals.
Claude Julien gives instructions at start of #Habs practice in Brossard #HabsIO pic.twitter.com/iwH8QIhCHb
— Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) February 24, 2017
Scoring slumps
The Canadiens have a 2-7-1 record in February and have scored only 13 goals during those 10 games. Five of the goals came in a 5-4 overtime win over the lowly Arizona Coyotes.
There is no shortage of Canadiens fowards stuck in scoring slumps. Here’s a look at some of the ugly numbers:
Torrey Mitchell: no goals in 34 games.
Brian Flynn: no goals in 14 games.
Phillip Danault: no goals in 13 games.
Artturi Lehkonen: no goals in 13 games.
Tomas Plekanec: no goals in 12 games.
Mike McCarron: no goals in 10 games.
Paul Byron: no goals in 10 games.
Brendan Gallagher: no goals in seven games.
Alex Galchenyuk: no goals in five games.
Alexander Radulov: no goals in five games.
Max Pacioretty: no goals in four games.
Assistant coach J.J. Daigneault meets with #Habs defenceman during practice in Brossard #HabsIO pic.twitter.com/8ZOpQp4YyM
— Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) February 24, 2017
Lehkonen impresses new coach
Rookie Lehkonen has impressed Julien, earning a promotion to the second line with Galchenyuk and Gallagher during Thursday’s game and remaining there for practice Friday.
“He’s a real smart player,” the coach said. “He knows the game really well both ways. He’s a skilled player, he makes plays. He’s also, for a young player, fairly reliable defensively as well. Every coach likes a player who can play at both ends of the ice and I think he’s one of those players that will continue to improve and has a lot of ability to become a better player as he gets more experience. I’ve like his game so far.”
Said Lehkonen: “(Julien) gave me a chance to play with Chucky and Gally and I had a couple of scoring chances, I just didn’t make them count. I just got to keep working hard and not think too much about the fact that we haven’t scored. We know that the opportunities will come and the goals will come that way when we just work hard and keep our work ethic high.”
Birthday boy
Phillip Danault, who celebrated his 24th birthday Friday, was asked after practice if he had a favourite hockey-related birthday present he received as a kid.
“Probably a couple of sticks back in the day,” the Victoriaville native said. “It’s always been my life, hockey, but sticks were expensive back in the day and my parents didn’t have a lot of money. I remember I got a Nike stick (when he was around 12), it was orange and white. I don’t even know if it was a one-piece … I think it was a two-piece. But still, it was unbelievable.”
Danault said he would probably have a nice dinner Friday night in Toronto but that he was more focused on Saturday’s game than celebrating his birthday.
Line of the night
After Thursday’s game, Julien was asked if he felt his players had followed his game plan.
“I hope not,” the coach said. “Not with the result, trust me.
“I’m not going to stand here and say I liked our game because we didn’t,” Julien added. “We looked like two different teams from New York (a 3-2 shootout win over the Rangers Tuesday) to tonight. Or even Winnipeg (a 3-1 loss last Saturday at the Bell Centre). These two games at home, I don’t think we’ve played close to the way I would like to see our team play. First of all, it starts with puck management. Our first passes weren’t even tape to tape.
“It was poor execution tonight and when you have poor execution you get no offence. I understand that we’ve had trouble scoring goals and I get that. But it starts with execution and it starts with some determination at putting pucks at the net and going at the net. We didn’t get much of that until a little bit in the third period. We started doing some of that in certain shifts, but we didn’t do enough of it tonight to give ourselves a chance to win.”
Julien added that he was going to remain positive despite a 1-2-0 record since taking over from Michel Therrien.
“When I say positive with these guys, it doesn’t mean you don’t bring to the forefront what we need to do better,” Julien said. “But tomorrow, we got to wake up and we got to get back to work here because we got a game in Toronto on Saturday and we got to be ready for that. So if you’re going to drag this game tonight into tomorrow, you’re not helping yourself.”
Julien is still trying to find the identity of his new team.
“In order to have an identity as a team you have to have consistency,” the coach said. “And we haven’t had consistency in the three games I’ve been here.”
Captain Max Pacioretty leads stretch at practice in Brossard #HabsIO pic.twitter.com/oRFddGUvLZ
— Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) February 24, 2017
Canadiens honour coach
The Canadiens wanted to honour Julien for his 1,000th NHL game during a pregame ceremony Thursday night at the Bell Centre, but the coach showed his humility by asking for something more simple. Instead the Canadiens had a video tribute to their new head coach during the first TV timeout, showing owner Geoff Molson and GM Marc Bergevin presenting him with a commemorative coin as a gift.
“To be honest with you, it’s more my personality,” Julien said after the game. “It’s great to have had 1,000 games. I didn’t want to be, I guess before the game, be the centre of attention. I wanted to just win that game more than I wanted to celebrate it. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. The Montreal Canadiens wanted to do something special for me and to my request I asked that it be maybe a little bit more discreet and I’m happy with the way they did it. They did a great job. They gave me a nice gift there and it was shown on the board and that was good enough for me.”
Unfortunately Julien’s players couldn’t give him a victory — or even a single goal.
Trade deadline approaching
The NHL trade deadline is at 3 p.m. ET Wednesday, which will have a lot of players around the league either excited or nervous.
“There’s nothing I can do about it,” Julien said. “I got to keep those guys focused on doing the job, which is tomorrow night against Toronto. They’re all pros … this is part of the game as a pro. You have to understand that it is part of the game and every team in the league has players that might be thinking the same way, so we’re no different. I have to focus on what’s in front of me. I can’t tiptoe around those situations because players don’t need that. So I’m going about my business as I would any other day.”
What’s next?
After Saturday’s game, the Canadiens have an off-day Sunday before visiting the New Jersey Devils Monday night (7 p.m., SNE, RDS, TSN Radio 690). The Columbus Blue Jackets will be at the Bell Centre Tuesday night (7:30 p.m., SNE, RDS, TSN Radio 690) and then P.K. Subban makes his return to Montreal with the Nashville Predators Thursday night (7:30 p.m., SN, RDS, TSN Radio 690). The Canadiens will visit the New York Rangers on the Saturday night after that (7 p.m., CBC, TVA Sports, TSN Radio 690).
• Spotlight now on GM Bergevin as Habs’ struggles continue, by Stu Cowan
• Canadiens shut out for fourth time in eight games, by Pat Hickey
• Pacioretty says booing Habs fans deserve better, by Pat Hickey
• Julien looking forward as he reaches 1,000-game mark, by Stu Cowan
• Shaw shoots down report about verbal abuse from Therrien, by Stu Cowan