Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Cammalleri blasts Habs: “We play like losers”

Montreal Canadiens v Boston Bruins - Game Five

BOSTON, MA - APRIL 23: Mike Cammalleri #13 of the Montreal Canadiens takes a shot in the second period against the Boston Bruins in Game Five of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden on April 23, 2011 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Frustrated over a lack of wins and ice time, Montreal Canadiens LW Mike Cammalleri offered up some harsh criticisms of his struggling squad.

“I can’t accept that we will display a losing attitude as we’re doing this year,” he told NHL.com and La Presse. “We prepare for our games like losers. We play like losers. So it’s no wonder why we lose.”

The Canadiens are 3-7 in their last 10 and mired in 13th place in the Eastern Conference. Much like his team, Cammalleri too has struggled -- he has nine goals and 22 points in 37 games, putting him on pace for the lowest totals of his career -- and is now seeing a reduction in ice time, playing just 15:01 in Tuesday’s shutout loss to the Blues.

That defeat appeared to be a breaking point for Habs fans; they booed Cammalleri after he went minus-2 with just one shot on goal.

“You’ve got to be sensitive to the fact that Canadiens fans live and die by their team,” Cammalleri said. “So if anything, you can identify with how they feel. They’re unhappy, and they let you know it. So I wasn’t disappointed; I think moreso I probably expected it.”

While he’s shouldering a large amount of blame, Cammalleri made it clear he’s disappointed with his teammates. He blasted the Canadiens for playing timidly and in fear of making mistakes -- the exact opposite of how Montreal played en route to the Eastern Conference finals two years ago (and in taking Stanley Cup champion Boston to Game 7 last year.)

“When you display a losing attitude like we do now, you lose more often than you win and you stay in the same place,” he said. “When you show a winning attitude, you are not stifled by mistakes and you respond to a mistake with 15 good plays at the other end, you win and you get out of misery.

“This is not what we’re doing here now.”