MONTREAL - Rarely is sitting back on a two-goal lead a recipe for success in the NHL.
And though some have posited the Canadiens are instructed to execute that game plan whenever they obtain a lead, I gave Jacques Martin the opportunity to debunk the myth last night.
He accepted, by suggesting that "the best defence is a good offence".
Erik Cole affirmed that the plan was to keep pushing forward, but clearly the Canadiens started the third period by moving backwards, and it cost them two quick strikes that sent this game to overtime with the score tied at two.
Tomas Plekanec and Brian Gionta missed their chances to deliver a win for the Canadiens, and Carey Price failed to stop both shootout attempts by Tomas Vanek and Brad Boyes.
In two shootouts this season (both at the Bell Centre) Price hasn't been able to come up with a single save. He left the ice last night, furiously smashing his stick, and he was less pleasant in his brief time in the locker room thereafter.
He had every right to be disappointed with himself, but who would blame him for being displeased with how the team approached locking down what should've been a sure win after the first two periods of play.
Instead, the Canadiens were outshot 8-0 in the first 14 minutes of the third period, and though they managed a crucial point in the standings, they needlessly gave one away to a divisional rival, extending their record at the Bell Centre to an atrocious 2-3-4.
And though technically, their home record ranks 14th best in the conference, it's worse than Winnipeg's 3-3 record at the MTS Centre.
Fragility, in confidence and in health
No coach instructs their team to sit on a two-goal lead. Not even Jacques Martin, who's reputed as a purely defensive-minded strategist.
And this natural tendency which rears its ugly head for the majority of teams in the NHL, is a clear sign of fragility of confidence.
The Canadiens haven't yet found the stability to confidently press as hard as they should with the lead, and the result is that they're losing too many games they should be winning.
And it's hard to establish that confidence with a couple of scrape-by overtime wins.
It's even harder to establish confidence when Josh Gorges is your only experienced defenceman in the game. That's the situation the Canadiens found themselves in when Jaroslav Spacek left in the second period after a collision in front of the Montreal net with Paul Gaustad.
Factor in Gill's illness, Cammalleri's inability to play through a nagging injury, and call-up Andreas Engqvist's departure from the game with a lower-body injury and confidence isn't the only thing wounded in the Habs room.
Markov on the mend
Andrei Markov practised with teammates yesterday for the first time this season.
How desperate are the Canadiens to have him return?
The powerplay has slipped to 26th in the league.
At home, the Canadiens are 21st in the league at 14.3%. On the road, they're 27th at 8.7%.
The team has eight powerplay goals on 65 opportunities.
Desperate for Markov's return would be understating it.
