Montreal Canadiens' Chemistry Lost: Is Benoit Pouliot Going to Pick Up His Game?

The Montreal Canadiens are a hockey team, therefore their job is to play and win hockey games.

Before anyone calls me Captain Obvious, let me just point out that their focus has not been on the games they're playing or their outcomes, with good reason, of course.

I'm sure now that they know their teammate Max Pacioretty is out of the hospital and walking, they can rest easy with the assurance that he's going to be alright regardless of the consequences his injuries have on his future in hockey.

It may take some time for them to get readjusted—the team looked lost in their game against the St. Louis Blues. The result was a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Blues and former teammate Jaroslav Halak.

I feel very bad for the Habs. It seems that whenever things start going their way, a key player goes down to season-ending injury.

First it was Andrei Markov, then Josh Gorges and now Pacioretty.

Thankfully, the team was able to rebound after they lost their two top defensemen. It took either a trade or a call-up from Hamilton to miraculously remedy terrible situations.

But now what's going to happen?

Benoit Pouliot was given the opportunity to replace Patches and play with Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta, reprising the role he took when he first started playing with the Canadiens last season. It seemed to be a successful endeavour in its early days, but as the games progressed, Pouliot's game did the opposite.

It's as if Pouliot just doesn't want the responsibility of playing on a top NHL line. He looked so much more comfortable when he was complementing David Desharnais, and you could see the flashes of brilliance in his game, albeit with momentary lapses causing him to regularly take bad penalties.

Maybe Pouliot needs more time to click with his new linemates. Unfortunately, time is of the essence.

With only 14 games to play before the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs, chemistry on all four lines—something the Habs had going for them—is a necessary attribute.

The Canadiens backed their way into the playoffs last year. It would be an utter disappointment for me if I had to watch them doing it again after their last stretch of great hockey.

Maybe I'm overreacting to a bad loss and things will start clicking again next game.

I really hope that is the case.