About last night: Habs looks friendly in 5-0 loss to Sharks

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Are you panicking yet?

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The winless Montreal Canadiens fell to 0-4 on the season after a 5-0 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday at the Bell Center. Boos from a modest 16,095 home crowd rained down on the struggling team, which failed to beat goalkeeper Adin Hill on 21 shots. Erik Karlsson and Timo Meier each had three points, while Jonathan Dahlen scored his first two career goals in the NHL.

San José wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, lighting the lamp 1:22 in the contest. It was originally awarded to Meier, but it was ultimately determined that Dahlen tipped Brent Burns’ point blast to open the scoring.

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Just over two minutes later, Dahlen attacked again. Former Shark son Ulf Dahlen was left alone to hit the rebound after Logan Couture’s opening shot to make it 2-0 before the foam settled on everyone’s beers.

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Brendan Gallagher tried to fire up his team by dropping the gloves against Karlsson, but the defender didn’t bite and Gallagher got an extra two minutes in the area for his problems. With 38 seconds left in the first period, Karlsson fired a pinpoint point through traffic that slipped past Allen to give the Sharks a dominant 3-0 lead into the locker room.

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If you feel bad, you are not alone. Let’s look at some of the first in-between thoughts from Liveblog commenters:

“I’m not going to throw in the towel on the season yet, but wow, they look horrible out there. It’s one thing if they stayed in games and lost in overtime / shootout, worked hard for 60 minutes and lost, but that’s not the case. There is absolutely no spark and most of the team seems completely disinterested. The usual problems continue to plague this team, which is the lack of scoring and the power game. Now you can add serious defensive problems to that list. “-Arvy Bee

“And to think that I almost bought tickets for tonight. I think I’ll wait a few months. I don’t want to panic, but I’m almost there. Let’s go back to squid games. “-George Marly

“Can you bring Shea Weber back as an assistant coach? The guys could try harder on the ice if they saw him behind the bench giving them his famous death glare. “-Bob Taylor

The Sharks did more damage early in the second. With Cole Caufield in the area to cut and avoid a chance to score a goal, Meier beat Allen with patience and a blocking side strike to give the Sharks a 4-0 lead.

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The Canadiens quickly followed suit with one of their best chances of the night from Josh Anderson, who couldn’t beat Hill on a breakaway. The Habs failed to score with a men’s advantage after the fourth goal, and remain scoreless in the power play this season after going 0-2 on Tuesday night. That’s when the boos started to arrive.

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By the third, the Habs had narrowed the gap in shots, but the Sharks were effective in keeping those shots on the outside with Hill undisturbed up front. Chris Wideman had a golden opportunity after jumping on the play, but missed the open net. Back in the power play, Kevin Labanc hit a Karlsson tape-to-tape pass past Allen to extend San Jose’s lead to 5-0. The Sharks finished 2-4 with a men’s advantage.

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The game ended with more boos coming from the rafters. On Thursday, the Canadiens will look forward to a better effort when they meet longtime friend Jesperi Kotkaniemi and the Carolina Hurricanes at the Bell Center. More thoughts from Liveblog commenters:

3. “In some games the score doesn’t match the actual game on the ice, not tonight, this looks and feels like a 5-0 game.” Ryan katz

2. “I understand the fact that we are playing without some of our strongest leaders right now. And I also understand the fact that we have a lot of new players who are trying to learn our system. I really do! … But I cannot and I will not excuse the lack of effort and intensity. It’s just sad. “-Carin Latzel

1. “I was starting to panic.” -R LRLeavitt