With a record of 7-7-2 to start the season, the Montreal Canadiens’ performance up to now can be summed up as “slightly above average.”
However, certain players have been producing at a below-average pace. In fact, the Canadiens, currently tied for 22nd in the NHL for goals scored this season (44), have eight separate forwards (not counting Kirby Dach) who have one goal or less on the year.
The most notable among them has been Josh Anderson, who, despite averaging over 17 minutes of ice time a night along with playing on the top powerplay unit, has yet to get one past a netminder this year.
Anyone who watches the Habs regularly will tell you that the opportunities are there, but Anderson, who hasn’t scored a regular-season goal since March of this year, is either missing by a fraction of an inch or getting robbed.
“I’m getting good looks, it’s how you beat the goalie now,” Anderson told reporters after Tuesday’s loss to the Calgary Flames. “Usually I haven’t had that problem in my career but I just gotta keep working at it.”
Another forward accused of underperforming is none other than first overall pick in the 2022 draft Juraj Slafkovsky, who has one goal this year.
With an unfortunate pattern that began before his season-ending injury last year, Slafkovsky went over 30 consecutive games without netting a goal, breaking the streak earlier this month when promoted to the top trio with Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki.
While he’s got the first one out of the way, his current pace has him finishing the season with 15 points.
Other cold streaks on the team include Alex Newhook, who, despite netting three goals this year already, has not scored in 13 games. Tanner Pearson hasn’t had one over his past 11 games, and Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, who scored plenty last year, is also waiting on his first.
As of now, here’s how the roster ranks by goal output:
| PLAYER | GP | G | A | P |
| Nick Suzuki | 16 | 6 | 7 | 13 |
| Sean Monahan | 16 | 6 | 7 | 13 |
| Cole Caufield | 16 | 5 | 9 | 14 |
| Brendan Gallagher | 16 | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| Mike Matheson | 16 | 4 | 8 | 12 |
| Alex Newhook | 16 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| Tanner Pearson | 16 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Justin Barron | 13 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Christian Dvorak | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Gustav Lindstrom | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Jesse Ylonen | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Joel Armia | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Michael Pezzetta | 12 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Juraj Slafkovsky | 16 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Arber Xhekaj | 16 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Jake Evans | 16 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Kaiden Guhle | 12 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Kirby Dach | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Josh Anderson | 16 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| David Savard | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Jordan Harris | 15 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Rafael Harvey-Pinard | 13 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Johnathan Kovacevic | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The Canadiens will have another chance to boost their stat sheets when they take on the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday at 7 pm ET.
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