Before you think of burning your Habs jersey, know this: a team is never as bad as when they are routed and never as good as on those nights that everything goes right. The cards were stacked against the Habs on Wednesday night. The Habs were playing two games in two nights and worked very hard in a loss against the Flames. Meanwhile, the Canucks were hungry looking for their first win, and they were rested and waiting as the Habs flew to Vancouver in the early hours of the morning.
You can't be leg weary in the NHL when so little separates the men in the talent pool. So to have expected the club to have good energy against Vancouver is too much. Athletes, no matter what age, can't compete if the muscles just aren't firing. That's the way it is. The only people that really understand this are athletes themselves. Everyone else just generally says that you are paid to be better than that. I won't be making excuses for the club this season on a regular basis, but Wednesday night they get a pass. A five game road trip to start the season when every other team is so hungry to impress in front of their own fans is the most difficult schedule imaginable.
With all of that said, I seem to have a more forgiving heart than the head coach. The practice after the Vancouver loss showed that Jacques Martin is not going to accept anything less than the best. Journalists who saw the Habs practice in Vancouver said that they can't ever remember players working as hard as they had to during the afternoon skate. They practiced one-on-one drills for half of the practice and then the last 20 minutes Martin pulled out his stop watch and timed their laps. They stopped when they could do no more. They were exhausted. The mood was quiet during the practice and after.
This is not something that the Habs saw under Carbonneau. He never tried to be the players' friend, but he often skipped practices and game day skates in favour of ensuring the players were well-rested. Martin seems to be of the mind that the human body can do a lot and to get in shape physically is to expand the lung capacity so you can stretch what a player can do. Two schools of thought here, but I have always been of the mind that hard cardiovascular work early in the season goes a long way in a player's ability to fight through the buildup of lactic acid and tired lungs late in the season. We will see how it plays out.
What you have to like here is Martin is sure of himself. He's been around so long that you just don't question his ideas, motives and plans. I haven't experienced that since Claude Julien, and Julien is the best coach that I have seen in my nine years covering the team.
Whether Martin has the personnel is another matter, but at least we know that the personnel will be ready to give their best. Their best in Vancouver wasn't enough, but don't lose hope. They haven't even played a home game yet.
