from Jack Todd at the Montreal Gazette,
Relax, people. The Canadiens are going to right the ship and win the Atlantic Division. How do I know this? Because Claude Julien is a good coach, this is still a good team and Saturday’s loss to the Winnipeg Jets was as meaningless as a press conference from that gas-bag Donald Trump.
There are losses that can’t be blamed on the coach, the GM or even the players. Schedules, acts of nature, events no one can control. And let’s face it — the bye week is an idea whose time has gone.
Going into Sunday’s games, teams coming off the bye were an abysmal 3-12-4, including five losses Saturday, a day when Washington and Tampa Bay were the only bye teams to salvage a point. Even the powerful Blackhawks lost 3-1 at home to an Edmonton Oilers team they had crushed 5-1 a week earlier.
And what do the players gain in terms of a mental and physical break? Coming out of the bye, the Canadiens play five games in eight days. Surely, it would be better to spread a couple of those games over an extra week? Anything would be better than having a team go into the stretch run looking rustier than a ’77 Ford Pinto?
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