The future is looking very bright for the Habs, but there are still going to be some growing pains in front of a more demanding fanbase.
Sitting in first place in the Atlantic Division with a 10-4-2 record heading into Thursday’s game against the Dallas Stars at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS), it can be easy to forget the Canadiens are still the youngest team in the NHL.
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The Canadiens went into the season with an average age of 25.8. The Buffalo Sabres are the second-youngest team at 26.48, followed by the Chicago Blackhawks at 26.49. The Sabres, sitting in last place in the Atlantic Division with a 5-7-4 record, look like they will miss the playoffs for the 15th straight season, while the Blackhawks have an 8-5-4 record after missing the playoffs for five straight years and seven of the last eight.
The future is looking very bright for the Canadiens, who made the playoffs last season for the first time in four years. But they’re still a young team facing high expectations this season from a fan base that was patient through the first three seasons of a rebuilding process.
The reality is there are still going to be some growing pains this season — like Tuesday night’s 5-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings.
Brendan Gallagher is the longest-serving player on the Canadiens, now in his 14th season. The 33-year-old has experienced the highs and lows that can come with playing in this market.
“In a perfect world, you’d love to play great all 82 games,” he said after practice Wednesday. “It’s pretty unrealistic for that to happen. But what is in your control is how you bounce back and how you regulate and you get your game back to where it has been all year. We’re confident. We got a good team coming in here (the Stars) so it’s not going to be easy.”
This season hasn’t been easy for goalie Samuel Montembeault with a 4-4-1 record, a 3.52 goals-against average and a .861 save percentage. He had to turn off his social media following Tuesday’s loss because of the vitriol directed at him.
This season also hasn’t been easy for Gallagher, who was still looking for his first goal heading into Thursday’s game. Last season he had seven goals after 16 games en route to finishing with 21.
“Obviously, you’d love to score,” said Gallagher, who has seven assists. “It’s a good feeling. But I think there’s times where you have to understand that you’re doing the right things, you’re creating chances.”
Gallagher’s offensive struggles have been overshadowed by Montembeault’s problems and the fact the Canadiens ranked fifth in the NHL in offence before facing the Stars, scoring an average of 3.63 goals per game.
Jakub Dobes, with a 6-0-1 record, a 2.25 GAA and a .920 save percentage, got the start against the Stars.
“Being a goaltender, especially, you can’t hide,” Gallagher said. “It’s tough. It’s easy for everyone else to make mistakes — they can be covered up. But with a goaltender it’s more difficult. Those guys have a certain mental toughness. It’s really impressive to watch. Monty’s no different. He comes to the rink every day, puts in the work. He does what he needs to do and we have a ton of confidence in him every time he’s in there and that hasn’t wavered. I think he’s had so many big games for us.”
All goalies go through rough stretches — including Carey Price when he was with the Canadiens — but the spotlight shines more brightly on them, especially when the struggles are early in the season and fan expectations are high.
Now the spotlight will start shining on Dobes.
“I personally don’t feel much pressure,” he said after practice Wednesday. “I try to focus on the positive things. Everything that is negative coming our way I try to think that people are just trying to entertain themselves. I personally try to focus on everything positive.”
Dobes added that he’s not worried about Montembeault.
“He’ll be fine,” Dobes said. “He is a great goalie. He had a great season, a lot of games last year. Not every month you could be perfect or you can be good. But we all trust Monty. He will be winning a lot of games for us.”
The early-season success has only raised expectations for Canadiens fans and put more pressure on the players and head coach Martin St. Louis.
“I really feel like I manage the process that we’re doing,” St. Louis said after Thursday’s morning skate. “I don’t think I manage success. I think I’m really honest with the players and whether we win or lose how we played. And I feel so far this year we’ve put ourselves in the situation to go get success. I think we’ve raised the percentages overall to go get success.
“Nothing guaranteed,” St. Louis added. “That’s what I manage. I don’t manage success. I manage the process and it’s going to help us get success.”
The young Canadiens are now learning to deal with success.
scowan@postmedia.com
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