Practice Notebook - December 3

EL SEGUNDO - The Canadiens practiced at the Toyota Sports Center on Saturday afternoon, focusing their efforts on trying to right the ship offensively as goals have been hard to come by in recent weeks.

Getting their groove back: There's no denying that the Canadiens have had their fair share of trouble finding the back of the net as of late.
After downing the Detroit Red Wings 5-0 on November 12, Michel Therrien's troops have scored just 18 goals in their last nine games. The last time they scored more than two goals in a single contest was back on November 22 in a 4-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Centre. That was five games ago. Since then, they've scored just six goals over their last four contests, and dropped their two most recent outings by identical scores of 2-1 in Anaheim and San Jose, respectively.
Is there a sense of panic inside the Canadiens' locker room right now because of the lack of offensive output? Absolutely not. Even though the goals haven't been coming as regularly as they were in October and early November, the chances to put the puck home are still very much there. That, according to Brendan Gallagher, is what matters most. Eventually, he says, pucks will cross the goal line again on a more consistent basis.
"We know we're going through a spell right now where it's tough to come by goals and you just try to keep it as simple as possible. If each line can chip in with a goal and think about how you can contribute to the team shift after shift, the big picture stuff will take care of itself. For us right now, it's going to take hard work. It might be a dirty, greasy goal. If that's what it takes, we're capable of doing that as well," explained Gallagher, who has struggled in the goal-scoring department himself so far this season, putting up just one goal in his last 18 games.
"As goal scorers, you never get worried when pucks aren't going in, you get worried when the chances aren't there. The chances are coming. It's just a matter of putting them in, sticking with it and bearing down when you get the opportunities," added the Canadiens' No. 11, who clearly has faith that things will get back on track sooner rather than later.

Like Gallagher, Alex Galchenyuk says restoring order will ultimately come down to perseverance and a commitment from every single one of Therrien's charges to playing a simple and straightforward brand of hockey.
"We've got to go back to being more aggressive and hungrier, get pucks to the net and don't waste a shot," said Galchenyuk, who leads the Canadiens' with nine goals and 23 points in 24 games during the 2016-17 campaign. "When things are going well, everybody's confident and you start thinking about doing more complex plays instead of shooting the puck to the net. I don't think it's bad luck. You've got to keep fighting and keep finding ways to create scoring chances."

The Canadiens' bench boss, meanwhile, put the team's current offensive struggles into perspective.
"Right now, we're in a period where we're having trouble scoring. At the start of the year, we were scoring one goal on almost every five scoring chances. Now, we're scoring a goal on every 9.5 scoring chances. The chances are there, but we have to find ways to capitalize on them," said Therrien.
Switches on special teams: In an effort to jumpstart things offensively ahead of Sunday afternoon's matchup with the Los Angeles Kings at the STAPLES Center, the Canadiens spent plenty of time working on their power play on Saturday afternoon, tweaking things somewhat on their top unit.
"We have to find a way to be more productive offensively, so we're going with four forwards and one defenseman," said Therrien, referencing the addition of Alexander Radulov to a group featuring Shea Weber on the back end, along with Max Pacioretty, Alex Galchenyuk and Andrew Shaw up front. "[Alexander] is capable of feeding his teammates. It's something we're going to try. We tried it in the third period against San Jose."

This particular power play formation means that Weber will be shifted somewhat from his traditional position on the back end, but Therrien believes it offers up new possibilities for the unit as a whole.
"His positioning will be different. He's productive on the opposite side with his hard shot, but we think that even if he's in the middle, he can still take a good shot. It gives us different options," mentioned Therrien.
For his part, Weber is eager to give the move a shot in the City of Angels.
"We worked on it, and hopefully we can make a difference [on Sunday]," said Weber. "Obviously, you don't want to be a single threat power play. You want to have different looks, even within the units. You want to have a different option each time and you want to have a lot of good movement."

Artturi Lehkonen, David Desharnais and Brendan Gallagher were the forwards Therrien featured on the second unit on Saturday afternoon, along with defensemen Andrei Markov and Jeff Petry.