It’s really hard to say what the problem has been. Team defense was a mess since the first game with the injuries early on… and since then every one of our (projected) starting 6 defensemen have gone down to a short or longer injury except Josh Gorges.

Very early in the season the Habs had the fewest shots against in many years for about a 5-6 game stretch… my hopes were elevated after that. But since then the shots against are usually pretty high.

I don’t think this is a bad Habs team. There always seems to be a key guy out. Not sure how that affects team chemistry.

I’ll continue to be positive. Pittsburgh were out of it about 53 games played last year… and they turned it on.

We don’t have the stars they do… although I consider Markov as an elite in the league…. but we do have guys who should be able to make a push if the team can play a more solid and complete game together.

I also have to say that I am very disappointed in Jacques Martin. Has the game passed him by? It seems to me that once the lockout ended, his effectiveness as a coach plummeted. I was convinced that one of the things he’d immediately improve upon is the number of shots against. Apparently not. This team gives up more shots than I can remember a Canadiens team giving up, and that’s a major concern.

Still, I have to remind myself to be positive. They say a sign of a good team is that it continues to accumulate points even when it is not playing well. This certain applies to the Habs, so I guess I should hope that if/when Martin gets his troops playing solid hockey, things should improve further all over the ice.