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Ranking: the Canadiens at the heart of nine teams separated by just six points
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The standings in the East are very tight. This means that it’s hard to know who will make trades in the conference, once the deadline is upon us.

Do you know how tight it is? Right now, no less than nine teams (including the Boston Bruins, who are third in the Atlantic) are separated by just six points.

It’s crazy how tight it is… and it’s crazy how the Rangers are coming back strong.

(Credit: Sportsnet)
Yesterday, seeing the Canadiens lose to the Red Wings meant that Martin St-Louis’s men did not “secure” their playoff spot in the Eastern standings.

But it’s not the end of the world, considering how quickly everything can change.

And since several teams lost (Columbus, Ottawa, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh), it’s not like the Canadiens fell too far behind the others by losing.

The deadline in the East will be fascinating.

The problem for the Canadiens is not that they lost last night. After all, these things happen. The problem is that the team played one of their worst games in a long time and was never really in the game.

And even though the team had won its last eight games while coming back strong, one could say that letting the Red Wings take the lead was not a problem for the Canadiens; yesterday, it became a problem.

After all, the Canadiens were never able to come back from that deficit.

Right from the start of the game, it was clear that the Canadiens were not in the game. In the first period, the team was outshot 17-4. The eye test confirmed that the team was not in the game.

It got a little better afterwards, but the damage was done and the gap was too wide.

In fact, when the Red Wings scored their third goal of the game (the shorthanded one), it was really a turning point in the match.

It wasn’t ideal.

It’s hard to pinpoint a particular player in the game to explain the team’s troubles. Why? Because collectively, the Canadiens were not doing well yesterday.

Lane Hutson had a tough game. The captain wasn’t having his best game either. Samuel Montembeault, even though he shouldn’t be too blamed for the loss, wasn’t exactly having his best game either.

He did make some good saves, but there are certain goals – including the second one – that he would surely like to have back.

I don’t know if fatigue played a role, but the Canadiens have given up 17 goals in their last four games, since last Saturday’s game against Toronto.

Maybe if the Canadiens were rolling with 12 regular forwards, things would go better. But that’s not in my hands.


overtime

Yesterday, the Canadiens returned to Montreal in the early hours of the morning. Martin St-Louis’s men have a day off before facing the Devils tomorrow night at the Bell Centre.

Will Jake Allen face Samuel Montembeault? Will a forward be called up tomorrow morning? Will Jayden Struble sit out again? We’ll see tomorrow.

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