Jeff Gorton’s blunt criticism of the Canadiens has found fresh life after another rough night at the Bell Centre.
Last season, in the third episode of The Rebuild, Gorton unloaded on Montreal’s lack of push in a loss that left him furious. After the Canadiens fell 5-2 to Nashville last night, that message suddenly feels a lot less like an old clip and a lot more like a warning that still applies.
Montreal is still searching for its first home win of the season at 0-2-0, and the latest result did little to calm the noise around the team. The Canadiens have now lost three straight, with the overtime defeat in Pittsburgh part of the slide.
The contrast with Gorton’s earlier rant is in the details. Back then, his anger centered on a disastrous third period and the sight of fans heading for the exits with 11 minutes left.
His issue wasn’t talent. It was effort, urgency, and attitude.
Against Nashville, the Canadiens at least showed more of that fight. They finished with 34 shots on Juuse Saros, who turned aside 32 of them, while Jacob Fowler saw just 18 shots at the other end. Nick Suzuki said Montreal controlled most of the game but couldn’t bury its chances, and Fowler also felt the team played well.
Still, the result was the result. The Canadiens stayed in the game longer than they did in that earlier collapse, but a shaky second period ended up costing them.
The effort may have been there this time. The points were not.
Whether Gorton had another fiery reaction after this one remains unknown.
"There has to be more of a fight going down. That to me is the biggest joke of it all.
I have a fuing really bad taste in my mouth how we just fuing played in the third period. It's a fu**ing embarrassment to all of us.
Fuing people are streaming out of this place with fuing 11 mins mins to go, it's a fuing joke. We don't fuing want that shit.”
- Jeff Gorton, The Rebuild (Season 3, Episode 3)
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