"The Canadiens' disappointing season has not robbed Randy Cunneyworth of his sense of humour.

Friday's practice in Brossard was preceded by a session with sports psychologist David Scott. It was pre-scheduled, not an emergency consultation, and the coach joked about his own therapeutic relationship with Scott.

"I'm going to have him to dinner," Cunneyworth said, "and he's going to sleep over tonight."

Lars Eller wouldn't reveal particulars of Scott's message to the players, beyond allowing the consultant said "some really good things we can take with us."

"It's still fun to play hockey," Eller said, "and we're excited to play (Saturday)."

The young centre said he and his teammates are striving to maintain their fragile confidence.

"We're professionals," Eller said, "and we're going to play hard right until Game 82 is played."

Through Game 51, however, the Canadiens are 19-23-9. They are in 14th place in the Eastern Conference, and the prospect of playoff hockey grows dimmer with each successive loss.

"We're in a big hole," Eller said, "and we only have ourselves to blame for it. I fully believe we have the roster to be a playoff team, but we haven't played as a playoff team. We haven't been good enough."

Tomas Kaberle admitted it's not easy to stay positive.

"I thought we played good for a couple periods in New Jersey," he said, "but in the third period we just stayed in our zone, and that's when bad things happen.""