About last night … Canadiens lose one they needed

Well, at least they do ceremonies well.

The Canadiens honoured Carey Price for his record 315 career wins. His family was there for the festivities, which included presentation of a gold goaler’s stick.

Then they dropped the puck.

And the golden goalie was Montreal homeboy Corey Crawford, who made 48 saves to hang an embarrassing — and, vis-a-vis the postseason, possibly fatal — goose-egg on the home team.

On the RDS postgame show, former Islanders defenceman Bruno Gervais, who has become a terrific analyst in French and English, said the shot clock was misleading.

“They had 48 shots,” Gervais said, “but how many were quality shots?”

Not many.

Chicago had the area in front of Crawford well-defended, Gervais added. And the Canadiens don’t have the kind of attackers who are going to battle for chances in the slot.

A forward like Jonathan Drouin thinks the “high-danger area” is dangerous for him. So Crawford — and other good goaltenders who have frustrated the Canadiens this season — face shots they can see … and stop.

Contrast that to the two goals against Price, both of which were scored by Hawks wide-open in high-percentage areas.

There were some very perceptive Comments on the Liveblog tonight.

Here are some samples:

The season has gone better than expected, until the expected happened.

-David Salmon

i just don’t think you can question the effort when they’re approaching 50 shots.you can’t question much. you can, however, bemoan the lack of high end talent.you can also look in a mirror and recognize that MTL fans will never stand for a full tear down & multi-year tank like CHI did, like PITT did, like YYZ & YEG always do…

-burnedprof

If this is the, “all hands on deck”, “every game is a playoff game” team, it explains why they are where they are in the standings. They have heart this year, they just lack the skill.

and

When the season started, there was no expectation of this team making the playoffs. Don’t know what’s happened to change that. Nothing more was added. Not much to be disappointed by …

-w.p.d

Pushing my frustration aside, I know they are trying. But it is painfully obvious that the team hasn’t got enough talent and their try no longer makes up for it. I am already in wait until next year mode. Or more likely, the year after.

-habitual

I can only speak for myself and my friends, but we would totally stand for a tear down. I think most fans are much better informed nowadays, what with 24hr sports channels, websites like Capfriendly, blogs, etc, so we understand the realities of a soon to be 32 team league with a hard salary cap. And while certainly not a guarantee (see EDM, ARZ, etc) tearing it down represents in my opinion the best “chance” to truly build a contender

-Matthew Elliott

Respect Matthew, but I don’t think the Canadiens need a teardown.

There are some good young players – and more on the way. Price is an excellent goaltender, and will be for a while.

The Canadiens have money to go out and buy a desperately-needed sniper. And a decent power-play coach.

The roster has overachieved this season. But crunch time has brought the team crashing back to earth.

Most fans understand that.