CANADIENS
Montreal

0-2

HURRICANES
Carolina

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings 

[one_half]Pacioretty – Byron – Hudon
Galchenyuk – Drouin – Deslauriers
Lehkonen – Plekanec – Gallagher
De La Rose – Froese – Carr
[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Alzner – Petry
Mete – Benn
Jerabek – Morrow
[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders

Price
Niemi

Scratches

David Schlemko, Logan Shaw

Injuries

Ales Hemsky – concussion, Shea Weber – lower-body, Phillip Danault – concussion, Andrew Shaw – lower-body

Game Report 

The Canadiens can’t score. But you’ve heard that before. The visitors were shutout for the seventh time this season. More startling, is that Montreal has scored one goal or fewer 20 times this season.

Think about that. In 39 percent of Canadiens games this season, they have failed to score two goals. That is not a recipe for success.

And not only aren’t they scoring, they are not creating chances. Post-game, Max Pacioretty said, “We aren’t generating any offense.”

One of the reasons is that the Canadiens spent a good portion of the game chasing the puck. As a team, Montreal won just 21 percent of the faceoffs. Jonathan Drouin and Charles Hudon were a combined 6-for-24. If that wasn’t bad enough, Paul Byron and Byron Froese didn’t win a single draw in 11 combined chances.

Lost faceoffs don’t only impact possession. Froese’s lost draw led to Brett Pesce’s first goal of the season. The Canadiens inability to clear traffic from in front of the goal was also a contributing factor.

And Drouin losing the faceoff to Victor Rask led to Brock McGinn’s goal. Drouin and Nicolas Deslauriers were guilty of inept coverage in their own zone.

At the beginning of the season, Marc Bergevin announced that the current edition of the Canadiens was the realization of his vision. On the ice, his team is an abject failure. Of that, there is no dispute. And by extension, Bergevin is also a failure.

It’s time for you to step in Mr. Molson. Sadly, it could get worse.

===

▲  Carey Price

▼  Jonathan Drouin, Nicolas Deslauriers, Joe Morrow, Byron Froese, Jordie Benn, Charles Hudon

1. Cam Ward  CAR
2. Brett Pesce  CAR
3. Brock McGinn  CAR

• “When you’re not winning, it’s frustrating for the players and the coaches, too. I have a right to be frustrated, but I also have a mandate to try to fix the small mistakes we saw against Carolina. It’s a part of my job, so you have to stay positive in that regard. But, when it comes to games like this, where you think you have a chance to win and you come away with a loss, it’s definitely frustrating.”

Max Pacioretty

• “We want to win and you’ve got to score goals to win. When you’re not scoring goals and that’s your job, you’re frustrated. It’s not like we’re missing 10 chances a night, it’s like we’re not creating anything and we have to figure out why.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com

I'm looking again at the replay of Pesce's goal and there was really no chance for Price to stop that puck … deflected by Carr and view obstruct by Alzner @AllHabs https://t.co/vyJSaqoYkV

— Mathieu CHagnon (@Mat_CH) February 2, 2018

#Habs on the verge of being shutout again. Amazing. pic.twitter.com/u8xrZkcZTW

— HABSGIFS® (@HabsGifs) February 2, 2018

Hab A Listen Podcast | Price, Weber, Canadian NHL Turnaround [S2/E19] https://t.co/3dd2QKnutU #allhabs #gohabsgo pic.twitter.com/kT60SbCYQ8

— All Habs (@AllHabs) February 1, 2018

Follow @AllHabs on Twitter