St. Louis hopeful Anderson's scoring struggles will be a 'one-off'

Montreal Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis is hoping Josh Anderson's down season will just be a "one-off" for the two-time 20-goal scorer.

"We know Josh can score goals in this league. ... There's a lot in that player," the bench boss said Monday.

"He hasn't forgotten how to score goals," St. Louis continued. "Sometimes, the game gets hard a little bit, and it's hard to come out of it. We know there's more in there, and he'll get that back."

Anderson mustered just eight goals and 18 points in 69 games this season while being handcuffed to an abysmal 6.3 shooting percentage. However, he has generated around 17 individual expected goals at all strengths, per Natural Stat Trick.

The 29-year-old suited up for exactly 69 outings in each of his previous two campaigns but garnered far better results than this season.

It took Anderson until Dec. 4 to score his first goal of the 2023-24 campaign, which kicked off a run in which he potted six tallies in 10 games. However, he quickly fell into another slump and scored just once in 22 outings.

A lower-body injury forced him to miss four games during that stretch.

"I think the effort is there, I think the intentions are there," St. Louis said. "It could be a hard year for him. I think he expects more."

He added: "For him, it's just, try to find some confidence down the stretch here, feel good about himself going into the summer."

Anderson has nine more games to turn his performances around. He's currently riding a 12-game goalless streak.

"I think (these games) are really important individually and for our team," Anderson said. "I think that for me personally, I just gotta keep doing the right things, get back to my game, using speed, physicality, and trying to shoot as many pucks as I can.

"Keep it simple."

Anderson is signed for three more seasons with a $5-million cap hit. His pact includes a five-team no-trade list.

The Canadiens take on the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.

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