The ranking in the East is very tight. This means that we don’t really know who will sell in the conference once the deadline approaches.
Do you know how tight it is? Right now, no less than nine teams (including the Boston Bruins, third in the Atlantic) are separated by just six points.
It’s crazy how close it is…and it’s crazy how fast the Rangers are coming back.
Yesterday, seeing the Canadian lose against the Red Wings meant that Martin St-Louis’ men did not “guarantee” their place in the playoffs in the Eastern standings.
But it’s not the end of the world, considering how quickly everything can change.
And as several teams lost (Columbus, Ottawa, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh), it’s not as if the CH had fallen too far behind the others by losing yesterday.
The deadline in the East will be fascinating.
CH’s problem is not that they lost last night. After all, these things happen. The problem is that the club played one of its worst games in a long time and it was never really in the game.
And even if the club has won its last eight games while climbing the slope and we could say that letting the Red Wings take the lead was not a problem for CH, yesterday, it was a problem.
After all, the Canadian was never able to get back up that slope.
From the start of the match, it was clear that CH was not in the game. In the first period, the club was outshot 17-4. The eye test confirmed that the club was not in the game.
-It recovered a little afterwards, but the damage was done and the gap was too great.
In fact, when the Red Wings scored their third goal of the game (the one shorthanded), it really was a break point during the game.
That wasn’t ideal.
It is difficult to target a particular player in the match to explain the club’s setbacks. For what? Because collectively, things weren’t going well for the Canadian yesterday.
Lane Hutson had a tough game. The captain didn’t have his best game in the body either. Samuel Montembeault, even if he shouldn’t be too responsible for the defeat, didn’t exactly have his best game in the body either.
He has stood up at the right time at times, but there are certain goals – including the second – that he would surely like to see again.
I don’t know if fatigue comes into play, but CH has still given up 17 goals in its last four games, since last Saturday’s match against Toronto.
Maybe if CH rolled with 12 regular attackers, things would be better. But that’s not in my hands.
prolongation
Yesterday, the CH returned to Montreal in the early hours of the morning. Martin St-Louis’ men are entitled to a day off before facing the Devils tomorrow evening at the Bell Centre.
Will Jake Allen face Samuel Montembeault? Will an attacker be recalled tomorrow morning? Will Jayden Struble skip his turn again? This will be seen tomorrow.
