Crazy, condensed 56-game season getting more difficult for Canadiens

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This crazy, condensed 56-game NHL season isn’t getting any easier for the Canadiens.

With Carey Price (concussion) and Brendan Gallagher (fractured thumb) already sidelined, the Canadiens were missing Tomas Tatar, Paul Byron and Jonathan Drouin at Wednesday’s morning skate in Brossard before facing the Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday night at the Bell Centre.

Tatar and Byron are both dealing with lower-body injuries, while the Canadiens announced Wednesday morning that Drouin has been placed on the long-term injured reserve list for personal reasons and that he will be out indefinitely. Tatar and Byron were both going to be game-time decisions.

Wednesday night’s game against the Leafs was the 16th of 17 games in 30 days for the Canadiens in April. They will play seven games in 12 days in May to wrap up the regular season.

Heading into Wednesday’s game, the Canadiens were holding the fourth and final playoff spot in the all-Canadian North Division, six points ahead of fifth-place Calgary (21-24-3) while holding one game in hand on the Flames.

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“We have 20 guys in the lineup tonight that will be wearing the jersey and we’ll fight for the win,” Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme said after Wednesday’s morning skate. “It is a challenging year. There’s not one player right now, there’s not one former player right now, there’s not a coach, there’s not a former coach … nobody’s been through 25 games in 43 days schedule, going coast-to-coast. Never happened in hockey. So we’re just managing it day-by-day and the guys are all in in what we do. It’s challenging. It’s challenging for many reasons. It’s part of it … we got to deal with it. We’ll go through it. We’ll come out of this as a team stronger.”

The Canadiens’ Phillip Danault, in his seventh NHL season, said this is the hardest one for him, even though it’s not a full 82-game schedule.

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“I don’t think I’d be the only one (to say that),” he added. “It’s 56 (games), but it feels like 82 or plus, especially for the body and mentally. In all aspects, to be honest. No fans … it’s hard. It’s part of life. Everyone goes through hard times, too, in different ways, so we’re not complaining about it. We just know it’s a harder year and we got to stick to it and keep pushing for the playoffs.”

Danault said having no fans in arenas has made it more difficult to bring emotion to the game, especially when they’re playing so many games in such a short period of time.

“Playing every two nights, so we’re trying to get the emotion,” he said. “I think the hardest part in hockey is to get that emotion every single night and that passion. We’re playing our best when we’re passionate. It’s definitely hard to get every single night, but that’s where good teams come together and we stick (together) and we got energy on the bench and we’re trying to fight through it. Obviously, we know it’s not going to be perfect but trying to get the best energy as we can.”

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This is Jake Evans’s first full season in the NHL with the Canadiens, but he has also found it challenging. Evans has been a healthy scratch for nine games.

“It’s definitely been a different season, one you wouldn’t — I guess — expect as much,” Evans said. “But for me it’s pretty simple. It’s playing the same way as I started the year and whenever I get that chance in the lineup it’s just playing my game and playing hard and trying not to focus on all those outside factors.”

The Canadiens asked Wednesday that Drouin’s privacy be respected now that he’s on the long-term injured reserve list after he had missed the previous three games with what the team called a non-COVID related illness.

“I’m not getting into details,” Ducharme said about Drouin. “The only thing I wish for him is that he takes care of himself. We’re with him, we’re supporting him, his teammates support him. We’re a team and we’re going to remain a team.”

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Danault called it a “difficult situation” with Drouin, who has struggled this season with 2-21-23 totals and a minus-8 in 44 games. He has gone 26 games without scoring a goal and had been demoted to the fourth line.

“I’d rather not elaborate and get into details; it’s his private life,” Danault said about Drouin. “It’s certainly not evident. I understand it, too. I’m a Quebecer and I know what it means to play in Montreal. It’s hard for me to comment, I don’t want to get into details. He’s a big part of our team and we’re sad for Jo.”

scowan@postmedia.com

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