The Montreal Canadiens have been playing bad hockey for almost two months now. Their nine-game winning streak to start the 2015-16 season seems like a distant memory. At the end of November, the Canadiens held on to a division lead, but that too seems like a distant memory. Just how bad have the Canadiens been during their slide? Maybe worse than you thought.
This image via Sportsnet which appeared during the team’s game on Tuesday night sums things up nicely:
So … at least their average number of goals allowed per game doesn’t rank dead last, right?
Even the most optimistic of fan can’t paint a pretty picture out of those stats shown above. It’s actually kind of amazing that the Canadiens are at the very bottom of so many important statistics. Many Canadiens fans expected the wheels to come off while Carey Price sat out with an injury, but this run has defied even the grimmest of expectations. An awful December (they collected just six points) carried beyond into the new year and is showing few signs of slowing.
Offensively, you can’t really say the Canadiens aren’t trying. Through 47 games, the Canadiens are averaging 31.8 shots per game. That ranks fourth in the NHL, but it doesn’t take any advanced statistics to show that the Canadiens aren’t finding the back of the net. They’ll likely improve in that category as their shooting percentages have been pretty awful in a lot of recent games. Unfortunately, a boost in team shooting percentage won’t solve all of the problems on defense.
Things have been ugly for the Canadiens. Will they ever be able to turn things around?
