The Montreal Canadiens were an enigma this week. The Habs won over the best team in the league so far this season, Boston, then they lost in an abysmal effort in Philadelphia. From midway through the first to midway through the second, the Flyers outshot the Habs 24 to one. That’s a magnificently high level of horrible hockey. The Habs look upper-echelon some nights. They look like a lottery team other nights. Which one would turn out against the Kings at the Bell Centre? Montreal did pick up the win 3-2 but it was certainly a challenge again.
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- One of the best aspects of this season so far for the Canadiens has been the coaching staff’s ability to adjust and improve. Earlier in the season, the power play was essentially trying to set up Shea Weber for a point shot and nothing else. The result was the defenders playing tight to Weber, leading him to back off until his point shot was only coming from 50 feet. Today’s NHL goalie is not letting anything in from 50 feet. The coaching staff adjusted. They saw the problem. With only one weapon, it’s easy to shut down the weapon. With more options, the penalty killer doesn’t know what to do. The adjustment was the powerplay started to key down low, working behind the net, and also trying cross-seam passes in the high slot. Weber didn’t really see the puck very much from his spot. With everyone looking at video now, the other team’s adjusted. So when they adjust, the Habs can now go back to Weber. His heavy shot can count from 30 feet easily, and that’s where he was firing his two goals in the first period. Adjustments pay dividends, so good job to the coaches.
- That brings us to a word on Weber. He still has moments where he has not been fast enough, but he continues to use his considerable intelligence on the ice to make up for that. Weber has five goals on the season now to total 13 points. That is near the top of the club in scoring. It’s a remarkable achievement for a player who many seem very eager to write off. It will be interesting to see how Weber does for the rest of this campaign. It could be that the slow first step has a lot to do with recovery from knee surgery. It could also be that it is simply the hands of time. We are not going to know which it is until at least another one full year from now. There’s healthy enough to play after knee surgery, and then there is getting the fast twitching fibres back that make your first stride excellent, and they take much longer to return.
- Another player on the overachieving scale at the moment is Jonathan Drouin. Before the season began, it seemed that everyone thought that exhibition games decided how worthy you are as a player. Drouin had a terrible pre-season and the talons were out. This should prove to everyone for the one billionth time in sports that there is nothing to evaluate for a veteran in the pre-season as he has no motivation whatsoever except to stay healthy. Once the important games have begun, Drouin has assumed his role again as one of the go-to-guys. He leads the team in scoring with 15 points. He is almost at a point-per-game pace. However, before you get too excited, one note of caution: Drouin was off to a flying start last season as well, but then trailed off badly in the final quarter of the season. He needs to maintain this consistency. If he does lead the team in scoring at year’s end, what a coup that would be for the GM who made a controversial trade dealing away a defender in Mikael Sergachev, who the Habs could really use to shore up the weakest position on the team. The winner of this trade is still not known. It may not be known for a while, but Drouin is surely in the race at the start of this season.
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READ MORE: Call of the Wilde — Montreal Canadiens edge Boston Bruins 5-4 in Bell Centre thriller
- Victor Mete is still improving steadily. It takes a long time as a defenceman to figure things out. The improvements can go on for five years before a defender has found his best self in the NHL. It’s safe to say that Mete hasn’t even close to peaked. In this one, he was extremely steady. Early on, when the outcome was very much in doubt, Mete handled a two-on-one perfectly laying out and breaking up the pass. He also head-manned the puck with ease. Mete might just have the best ‘first pass’ on the team. He also leads the rush with that speed. On the backcheck, he uses that speed to break up what looks like a breakaway against the Habs nearly once a game. He’s a great partner for Weber when the moment comes that speed is required to help on a two-on-one. Mete leads the team in plus-minus. He might just be a first pair defender after all. That’s lofty, but if the improvements keep coming at this pace, it’s a fair assessment.
- The Habs didn’t have the killer instinct in this one, so they had nervy final minutes trying to hold on for the win. With the extra attacker, the Kings had all kinds of zone pressure, but what a terrific job the defenders Shea Weber and Ben Chiarot did. They attacked the play relentlessly. Chiarot fought for every puck, never backing off to let the Kings set up. Weber also attacked in his corner, so though the Kings seemed to be creating danger, they need really did. There were no difficult chances for Price to face despite the fact that the puck was within 40 feet of him the entire final minute. Chiarot is never going to have the quickest first pass or be the modern-day defender like the prospects to come, but he has definitely improved as he has learned more what is expected of him by the Habs coaching staff.
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- So much to like in the coaching staff year. They have made the powerplay adjustments spoken of earlier. They’ve also balanced ice time beautifully like less Weber when he was struggling and more Jeff Petry when he was dominating. They have also done a tremendous job on video review. There have been two key moments that led to victories when the staff caught offside infractions leading to goals called back. The latest was against the Bruins, and that put two points in the standings they would not have won likely. However, they just can’t figure out what ails them on the penalty kill. Whether it is the manpower they’re using, or the lack of aggression while killing penalties, it’s hard to know exactly what is so troubling. Whatever the reason, it sure is a problem. The club continues to allow a goal killing a penalty essentially every game. They have allowed 15 in 17 games for a 72 percent success rate which is horrendous. They’ll keep working at it. A betting man watching how well this staff has done repairing other issues should have some confidence they’ll figure this out too, but for now…. nada.
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- Head Coach Claude Julien says that Jesperi Kotkaniemi is close to returning but not there yet. Groin injuries should not be hurried and there is certainly no need to hurry in this instance especially with the roster performing well, and no other injuries to report. It’s an odd injury because sometimes it can feel as if the healing is complete, but one stride that goes wrong and you are set back all of the healing time just taken. Kotkaniemi has been practicing with the club, but practice and game situations are quite different. Ryan Poehling has been brought up from Laval for Kotkaniemi and his audition certainly isn’t complete as the club would also like to see how is adaptation period is going. Too many quality players is a good problem to have.
- On the farm, it continues to be a revelation how well Cayden Primeau is doing in the Laval Rocket net. Some of the best numbers for a minor league goalie in the Montreal organization since Carey Price. Primeau played for the Rocket in Cleveland on Friday night stopping 24 out of 25 shots for the 2-1 win. Primeau upped his save percentage to a ridiculously high .943. His Goal against average is 1.69. By contract, the save percentage of Charlie Lindgren is .883. It’s hard to imagine a disparity between the two save percentages that is higher than right now in Laval. They continue to split the duties, but at a certain point, one must acknowledge that Primeau should get most of the work to put him on a better track to the NHL one day. It seems as if that is his destiny. Lindgren put in a terrific Saturday though with a shutout as the Rocket won 4-0 in Cleveland to be the Monsters for the second straight night. The Rocket have won six straight games.
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