from Brendan Kelly of the Montreal Gazette,

Phillip Danault scored in his first game as a Los Angeles King. Of course he did. That’s just the way things are going for your Canadiens. Everything is going wrong for this team.

It’s only been two games, but Les Boys of October, who often overachieve during the early days of the season, are looking downright dismal thus far and are faring worse than even the most pessimistic observers expected. The Canadiens have lost their first two games, going down 2-1 in the season opener Wednesday to noted playoff losers the Toronto Maple Leafs and then getting embarrassed by the lowly Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, with one of the most sad-sack teams in hockey destroying them 5-1. Ouch!

But it’s not just the two losses. It’s the way they’ve been playing. Other than the first six or seven minutes of the game in Toronto, Dominique Ducharme’s squad has looked oddly disinterested in these two games. It’s as if they just don’t care.

Any way you slice it, there isn’t a more depressing scenario to set the scene for what was supposed to be the team’s triumphant return to the Bell Centre for their home opener against the New York Rangers Saturday (7 p.m., SNE, CITY, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM). This was supposed to an exciting moment. Premier François Legault, hockey fan that he is, recently gave the green light for the Bell Centre to operate at full capacity and team owner Geoff Molson was dreaming of a heartwarming night with around 21,000 fans wildly cheering on the lads who made it all the way to the Stanley Cup final a few months back.

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