Might As Well Go For A Soda... Or Bowling. Montreal Canadiens need to Reboot

How Prophetic the words of Kim Mitchell. A simple solution for when things look their bleakest.

The decision by coach Carbonneau yesterday to cancel practice and allow the team to head over to the nearest Bowling alley and let loose on a team-building jaunt has been dissected and discussed ad-nauseam with its sympathisers and detractors.

I for one, agree with the move. Let us revisit the Habs' last few days. 

Yes, the Habs have been stinking it up on the ice. Their defensive play has been less than stellar, offering little or no support to either goaltender as of late with the majority of the defensive core being in the minuses for at least the last five games. 

Komisarek, Bouillon and Markov lead the pack with -6, -7 and -6 tallies respectively.

Specialty teams are NOT doing the job as the powerless play continues to struggle and Monday's spectacle against the Calgary Flames that allowed 2 short handed goals against a team that had a grand total of 3 for the year prior to that meeting was a sure sign that something is not working.

Let's put a little perspective on the situation: The Habs are in the middle of a bad stretch. The teams behind them in the standings are gaining ground and now, not only is 4th place in the east no longer safe, but they are presently only 5 points out of a playoff spot. The team is feeling the pressure and instead of uniting for the common good, it seems like the team is falling apart.

More wisdom from the same song by Kim Mitchell: "So we're in one of our blue moods, you wanna have it your way and I want it mine..."

The team, for whatever reason (we'll never know the true source of all that is ailing the Habs) is not acting as a team. One can go back to when Josh Gorges was pasted into the boards by L.A's Denis Gauthier. Not one of Gorges' teammates did anything more than give Gauthier a really dirty look... Is this the reaction of a team that is there for each other? It can be argued that there is a vicious circle in the room that can kind of explain what is going on.

The team is not sticking up for each other because no one feels the other has their backs. The defence has been leaving the goalies out to dry, the goalies are facing way too many shots and when they let a soft one in, the team's shoulders collectively drop.

The forwards feel like the defence is not doing their job and always have to try and come from behind in order to try and salvage a point and the defence, in return and in their haste to clear the puck out of their zone, create turnover after turnover, resulting in more shots on net...

"Might as well go for a soda nobody hurts and nobody cries....Might as well go for a soda, it's better than slander It's better than lies."

Well in this case, after a 32 minute "players only" meeting, where hopefully some fingers were pointed and some players were challenged, maybe the best thing this team needed was to be AWAY from the ice. They played and lost on Friday, they played and lost miserably on Saturday, they practiced on Sunday, flew to Calgary and became unravelled on Monday.

Perhaps before it got any worse, and yes folks, it could get worse, they needed to get back to the basics and try and figure out what made this same batch of players the 1st place team in the east that they were last year.

Good on Carbo for taking this decision, and even bigger kudos for not advising the media as to his intentions until the day was done. This led to a day full of speculation such as Carbo's announcing his resignation to Kovalev and Price being traded.

In the end, it was all about the team, getting together and taking care to salvage a relationship that was healthy at the beginning of the season.

Having said all that, if they lose tonight against the Edmonton Oilers, I say we trade 'em all and rebuild around Tom the Bomb.