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Saturday, November 6, 1999
Habs hint at need of a scorer
OTTAWA -- After eight games without a win, Montreal Canadiens players are getting sick of shouldering all the blame.
After losing 2-1 to the Ottawa Senators Saturday night, Habs defenceman Eric Weinrich put some of the blame for one of the lowest ebbs in club history at the feet of general manager Rejean Houle.
"It's the same old story," said Weinrich, named the game's third star. "We're banging our head against the wall. We're playing hard, but we're not generating enough offence. We can't blame our guys. But you look at other teams in the league and they have two lines to generate offence. We've got to find some help somewhere.
"We're holding the other team to two goals a game. We're averaging 20 shots a game and it's tough to score when you don't generate chances.
"I'm not taking anything away from our guys, but other teams have guys who have proven they can score goals."
That's player-speak for "Reggie, we need a scorer and we need him now."
Eight of the Canadiens' 11 losses this season have come by one goal.
They played hard Saturday night, but were snakebitten once again when the winning goal, off an off-balance shot by Ottawa rookie Mike Fisher, bounced in off the stick of a Canadiens defender.
Montreal coach Alain Vigneault has to keep looking for some kind of positives to take out of each defeat, but his job is getting tougher and tougher with his team in an 0-6-1-1 slide.
"The winning goal went in off our own stick. That was their only (scoring) chance of the third period," he said. "And that includes six minutes of power-play time."
Vigneault, as might be expected, sidestepped the question of Houle needing to take some action to bolster the club's flagging offence.
"We as players and coaches have to control what we can control," he said. "That's our preparation and our belief that we can turn this around."
Winger Brian Savage had carried the team through October with another of his typical hot starts, but after scoring 10 goals in the Canadiens first 10 games, he is scoreless in the club's last five games.
To make matters worse, Savage and linemates Dainius Zubrus and Jesse Belanger (called up from the AHL for the game) where on the ice for both Senators goals, which came at even strength.
Martin Rucinsky scored the Canadiens only goal, his third in four games.
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