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The Montreal Canadiens recent skid couldnt have arrived at a worse time. Derrick McKey Jersey . Not to say theres ever a good time for four losses in a row, but thats the Habs reality and in doing so have seen themselves drop into wild card territory behind the hated Toronto Maple Leafs. Granted, Montreal has two games in hand, but with the three teams ahead of them all riding hot streaks – the Boston Bruins earning points in four straight, the Tampa Bay Lightning on a three-game winning streak and the Leafs having earned points in seven of their last eight – the alarm is rightfully going off. Its not just the losses or even the standings that are of highest concern to Montreal fans. The Canadiens have given up at least four goals in each of their last six and Carey Price has been chased out of the net in two of his last three games. Even the lone win that they have managed to garner over the stretch – a 5-4 overtime victory over the Ottawa Senators on Jan. 16 – was a puck that trickled past Craig Anderson and led to a firestorm with P.K. Subbans game-winning celebration. Add that to a near-goalie fight against the Pittsburgh Penguins last Wednesday and the Canadiens are grabbing headlines for the wrong reasons. So what gives? Mired in the longest stretch of futility since general manager Marc Bergevin took over, the Canadiens dont have a single player among the NHLs Top 50 scorers and their current leading scorer is a defenceman (Subban). A defenceman – mind you – that will once again be the centre of contract negotiations and all sorts of rumours until his name is once again down on a contract. However, with 55 points through the first 44 games of the season, perhaps the Habs should be granted some slack as they endure this skid. After all, the Detroit Red Wings – currently two points back of Montreal and in the second wild card spot – rattled off a six-game losing streak in December. The Maple Leafs, too, lost four straight before going on their current streak, giving up even more goals in their four-game skid than the Canadiens have on their current slide. Even if they should win both their remaining games, the Canadiens will post their worst monthly record of the season for January. They will then have five games in eight nights in early February to try to make some hay before the Olympic break. But then what? If Price or Subban are unable to thrive – or not even feature – for Canada at the Olympics, will it affect their play after the break? Will the likes of Alexei Emelin and Andrei Markov return jubilant if Russia captures gold at home? Or will they be crushed by disappointment? The Canadiens have time to turn the ship around with more than a third of the schedule left to play, but the closer the playoffs get, the tougher the games will get. The Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning are both keeping pace with one another, meaning a failure to gain ground could soon result in a first-round date with one or the other. Or even the Pittsburgh Penguins. Or even failing to make the postseason for the second time in three seasons. So are the Habs going through a bad stretch? Or are they just a bad team? As always, its Your! Call. George Hill Jersey . Asdrubal Cabrera had four hits and three RBIs, Michael Brantley also homered and the Indians beat the injury-riddled Minnesota Twins 9-4 Thursday for their first three-game winning streak this season. Len Elmore Jersey . Pospisil, the seventh seed, saved match points in each of the last two sets before falling to the unseeded Dutchman. „I wasnt very happy with the way I was playing,“said Pospisil.MARSEILLE, France – Third-seeded Ernests Gulbis of Latvia reached the Open 13 quarterfinals on Thursday after a hard-fought 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 win against Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain, while Michael Llodra advanced again in one of his favourite local tournaments. Gulbis had 23 aces but needed more than two hours to win. Llodra, the 2010 champion and two-time runner-up, put out fourth-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy 7-6 (3), 6-4. Germanys Jan-Lennard Struff also secured an upset, beating seventh-seeded Julien Benneteau, the 2010 finalist, 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3. Fifth-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia, No. Chuck Person Jersey. 6 Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France, and No. 8 Nicolas Mahut of France progressed. Dodig beat Germanys Tobias Kamke 6-7 (4), 6-0, 6-3, Roger-Vasselin advanced with a 7-6 (2), 6-4 win against Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine to his third quarterfinals of the season, and Mahut won 7-6 (5), 6-3 against Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania. On Friday, Dodig faces top-seeded Richard Gasquet of France, Gulbis plays Mahut, Struff is up against Llodra and Roger-Vasselin takes on defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the second seed, in an all-French match. ‚ ‚ ‚