After an impressive win Monday against the Oilers, we’re back on the bandwagon.
It’s easy to get whiplash as a Habs fan.
Nicolas Martin Maranda nailed it on my Facebook page this week:
“Habs lose
Fans: FIRE EVERYBODY!
Habs win
Fans: ÇA SENT LA COUPE!”
My old friend Ted Harman was even more eloquent in the same Facebook convo:
“They win a game in September and we’re making plans for a parade. They go through a bad patch and La fin du monde est à 7 heures. Slaf can’t even legally order a beer when the Habs are south of the border. Everyone needs to relax. They’re working on building a team with what we hope will be an elite skill set, that will win tons of games. In the interim reach for your fave anti-anxiety meds.”
So have the Canadiens turned the corner? Is the rebuild back on track? Or was the beautiful game Monday simply the exception that proves the rule?
“I think they’re on the right track,” said Christian Rivard, who was at Maison Publique McLean’s on Wednesday. “They’re still a young team. To say they’ve really turned the corner, at this point it’s hard to tell. But we’re starting to impose our style of play.”
Luc Desrosiers also says it’s too soon to say if we’ve turned the corner.
“No one knows, maybe not,” said Desrosiers. “It remains to be seen. Give me a few more games and I’ll tell you. So they’ve had two or three good games. But is it just a blip and we’re going to go back to where we were? They have a lot of talent so they can continue to be on the rise. But will they stick together? But we have to be fuelled by hope so I’m 100-per-cent hopeful. If not this year then next year. Good stuff is coming.”
The next guy I approached at the pub said he was a fan but said he couldn’t comment for the article. I correctly guessed that he worked for the Canadiens organization. I asked what department he was in. He said, wait 20 minutes and you’ll understand.
They all sat down at the bar and ordered drinks. Then St. Louis himself showed up and sat down on the stool right next to me. So I figured I might as well ask him this week’s What the Puck question: Did he think the Canadiens have turned the corner?
When I told the story to a pal today, he joked that St. Louis must’ve answered by saying “I don’t believe in corners.”
In fact, the most philosophical of NHL coaches basically said that he wouldn’t say they’d turned the corner but rather that he sees this as a transitional season and that he likes the direction they’re headed.
I told him I thought Monday was the game of the year and again he wasn’t ready to fully agree. He said he liked a lot of what he saw Monday.
With that, I left them to enjoy their dinner in peace.