On Monday, the Montreal Canadiens found themselves in an unfamiliar place — in a playoff spot. Their 5-4 overtime win over the Vancouver Canucks vaulted them into the second wild-card position in the Eastern Conference.
Montreal, which has not played since Monday, has fallen out of that spot. But the Canadiens are squarely in the mix at the halfway point of the season, which is a major achievement for one of the league’s youngest teams. They have won 11 of their past 16 games, including eight of 10.
“I think we’re playing the right way, and we’re doing the right things over and over and over, and we’re getting results out of it,” Canadiens forward Kirby Dach told reporters. “As a young group, when you see that product start to work, you kind of stick with it.”
When comparing the Canadiens’ performance over the past 10 games to the first 30 games (11-16-3), a few things stand out.
Under coach Martin St. Louis, Montreal’s defensive play has come under harsh scrutiny. The club has tightened up directly in front of the net during its hot stretch, allowing 5.8 inner-slot shots per game in all situations — tied for fifth in the league since Dec. 17. They gave up nearly two more inner-slot shots per game (7.63) through Dec. 14, which ranked 28th.
By better defending the crease, the Canadiens have cut down on the number of second-chance opportunities against. The 1.1 rebound scoring chances Montreal has surrendered per game are second fewest over the past 10 games. (Opponents averaged 2.13 rebound chances over the first 30 games, scoring 11 goals.)
The recent addition of Alexandre Carrier on defence has already paid big dividends. He and Kaiden Guhle have handled the toughest competition since joining up last month, which has slotted Montreal’s other defencemen into more advantageous positions. Mike Matheson, for instance, ranked second among NHL defencemen in quality of competition at even strength (excluding overtime) before Carrier’s Canadiens debut. Since then, Matheson has dropped out of the top 100 in that category.
As a result, Matheson and Lane Hutson have feasted on easier matchups. The Canadiens have generated 61.6 per cent of the expected goals at even strength during their minutes over nine games with Carrier in the lineup.
Of course, it helps to have rock-solid goaltending as well. Canadiens goaltenders have combined for seven quality starts over the past 10 games, saving 5.6 total goals above expected (0.55 per 60 minutes). Rookie Jakub Dobes saved 4.1 GSAE in his first two career starts, on the road, against the defending Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers and high-powered Colorado Avalanche.
Offensively, the usual suspects are leading the Canadiens’ surge: Cole Caufield (five goals and 11 points), Nick Suzuki (one goal and 11 points) and Hutson (two goals and 10 points).
A major factor in the Canadiens’ recent success, however, has been the fourth line of Emil Heineman, Jake Evans and Joel Armia. Montreal has outscored opponents 9-1 at five-on-five since Dec. 17 with those three forwards on the ice. The fact that they have started just 11.1 per cent of their shifts in the offensive zone (10 of 90) over that span makes their performance even more impressive. Heineman, Evans and Armia have combined for 12 goals and 23 points in all situations over the past 10 games. (Pending unrestricted free agents Evans and Armia could be of interest to other teams ahead of the March 7 trade deadline.)
And then there is Patrik Laine, who will miss his fourth consecutive game Friday against the Washington Capitals because of flu-like symptoms. Montreal is 9-4-0 with Laine in the lineup since he made his season debut Dec. 3. All eight of his goals have come from the left circle on the power play, where the Canadiens are 8-for-28 (28.6 per cent) during their 8-2-0 run. (Laine, whose status for Saturday against the Dallas Stars is unclear, has scored five of the eight goals.)
The last time the Canadiens made the playoffs in a normal season was 2017. They have a 14.5 per cent chance of getting there this season, but the standings are tight. Seven of the eight teams outside the playoffs are within five points of the final spot in the East.
“Whether we can be a playoff team or not, we’re in that conversation right now,” Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes told reporters. “Let’s see how our players respond to it.”
from Sportsnet.ca
via i9bet
No comments:
Post a Comment