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The misery continues in Montreal

Montreal Canadiens v Winnipeg Jets

WINNIPEG, CANADA - DECEMBER 22: (L-R) Dustin Byfuglien #33, Evander Kane #9, Alexander Burmistrov #8, Tobias Enstrom #39 and Blake Wheeler #26 of the Winnipeg Jets celebrate Wheeler’s first period goal against the Montreal Canadiens in NHL action at the MTS Centre on December 22, 2011 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. (Photo by Marianne Helm/Getty Images)

Marianne Helm

How do you say “horrific train wreck” in French?

OK, that might be a bit excessive, but things are starting to get ugly for the Montreal Canadiens. The Winnipeg Jets muted them 4-0 tonight to push Randy Cunneyworth’s record to an unsettling 0-4-0.

Sure, the Jets have been red-hot at home; they’re now 7-1-1 in their last nine games. That probably won’t sweeten the bitter taste for Habs fans, though.

The feeling is that a combination of linguistics and losses will inevitably do Cunneyworth in, but the focus is starting to shift to GM Pierre Gauthier. Honestly, it probably should have been there from the beginning. General managers tend to have the ears of owners more often than coaches, so there should be no surprise that franchises fire the cook instead of the grocery shopper in most situations - even if GMs are equally (if not more) to blame.

Either way, it’s a depressing situation, unless you’re Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec. His play has been picking up lately, but he’s fallen short of a few extra wins because Winnipeg occasionally struggles to score. He spoke up a couple times on that issue and the team scored four goals for him tonight.

Considering better play from Calgary, the Jets’ status as the second-ranked team in the Southeast and the youth movement in Edmonton, it’s quite possible that the Habs are currently the NHL’s most rudderless Canadian team.