Stu Cowan: The Perfect Storm Is Coming When Canadiens Get Hurricanes

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The only good news for the Canadiens fans who were at the Bell Center Tuesday night is that they didn’t have to deal with traffic as they headed home after the game.

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There was also not much traffic before the game.

Official attendance was 16,095, but it certainly didn’t seem like there were many people in the seats. It was a big drop from the full house of 21.105 for the first home game last Saturday.

By the time the final horn sounded Tuesday, the Bell Center was nearly empty when the Canadiens lost 5-0 to the San Jose Sharks, dropping their record to 0-4. After a 3-1 loss to the Rangers in the first home game, on Twitter Michael Farber compared the Canadiens to New York’s old GAG (Goal a Game) line from Jean Ratelle, Vic Hadfield and Rod Gilbert because the team had three goals in three games. Now the Canadiens are the 0.75 team (goals per game).

There are several reasons for the empty seats at the Bell Center. First, the Canadiens learned on October 1 that they would be allowed full capacity when the COVID-19 restrictions were relaxed. That didn’t leave much time to sell tickets.

There’s also the high cost of tickets during a time when the economy has been hit hard by the pandemic, and the fact that many people are probably still reluctant to be in a crowded indoor stadium. The product on the ice has also been terrible and the Canadiens are the only NHL team without a point in the rankings.

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What would make matters worse is a perfect storm hitting the Bell Center on Thursday. (7 pm, TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM) when the Canadiens take on the 2-0 Carolina Hurricanes and former Canadian Jesperi Kotkaniemi. It will be Kotkaniemi’s first game in Montreal since agreeing to a one-year offer for $ 6.1 million from Carolina and you know Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon would love to sprinkle a little more salt on the wounds of the Canadiens as revenge for those of GM Marc Bergevin. failed attempt to remove Sebastian Aho from Carolina two years ago with a five-year offer for $ 42.295 million.

Dundon could even give Kotkaniemi an $ 82 bonus (to match his new jersey number) if he can score against the Canadiens. Imagine the reaction at the Bell Center after a fifth loss in a row and a goal from Kotkaniemi.

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Loud boos could be heard after Tuesday’s game even though there were not many fans left in the building.

“We’ve been through that before,” the Canadiens’ Brendan Gallagher said after the game when asked about the boos. “You get a couple of wins, they will come back. That’s what any market, any hobbyist will feel. They are frustrated. The thing about us as players is that we have the opportunity to change that and fix what is happening. They don’t, so they feel like their only voice is booing us.

“Like I said, I’ve been through that before in this market,” added Gallagher. “I think this is year 10 (for me). It will not be the last time, but the important thing is that when you go through these situations, in the locker room it is a challenge to stay focused and trust the process. But you won’t get out of this if you make the guys go on their separate pages. We have things to fix and it starts tomorrow. We got on that and, for a man, we bring in a little more and we start working towards those solutions and the reaction of the fans will change. “

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Canadiens defender Jeff Petry is normally calm and cool on and off the ice. But after Tuesday’s game, he was so upset you could almost see his mustache slip away when he talked about the team basically missing the first four games, including a 5-1 loss to the Sabers in Buffalo.

“Half of our games have been … no effort,” Petry said. “So yeah, it’s frustrating.”

The Canadiens will wrap up their four-game home run Saturday night against the Detroit Red Wings, who are 2-0-1. With five goals, Tyler Bertuzzi of the Red Wings has two more than the entire Canadiens team. Fortunately for the Canadiens, Bertuzzi will not play Saturday because he has refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and cannot cross the border.

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“We are going through a difficult time right now,” Gallagher said. “You want to be a team where you can have your character in that locker room. Well now is the time. It will not be easy. Many people will turn against us. It’s going to be important in that locker room that we don’t. We do the right thing, we work to find solutions. It’s never easy to get out of these things. It is very disappointing that it is happening at the beginning of the year, but this is when they challenge you. So you want to test yourself, test yourself in the most difficult situations, and that’s where we are now. “

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