The Montreal Canadiens have been an enigma this season. They have wins over some of the best teams in the NHL, like the Boston Bruins, St. Louis Blues, and Washington Capitals, but they also have losses against some of the worst teams in the league, like the Ottawa Senators, Detroit Red Wings, and Minnesota Wild.
In fact, the Canadiens’ current four-game losing streak is entirely against weak competition. The trend told us that Montreal would put in a good game against the Bruins on Tuesday night, despite playing their worst hockey of the year.
That trend, though, clearly shouldn’t go to Vegas to bet on the games, as the Canadiens were destroyed 8-1 by the Bruins.
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None. There are no horses. No one was impressive.
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The Canadiens are 25th in the NHL on the penalty kill.
This aspect of the game that they are failing at could cost them a playoff spot. The Bruins got two powerplay goals in the first period, and it was no surprise that the defencemen on the ice were Shea Weber and Ben Chiarot. They seem to be on the ice for a lot of the penalty kills that fail.
In fact, statistically, let’s back up that feeling.
Weber has been on for 16 penalty-killing goals this season. That is tied for the league lead. Not good. You would think that Weber and Chiarot would be good on the kill. You would think Nate Thompson would be good on the kill. In the old NHL, this was the type of player who was always on the penalty kill — the stay-at-home defender and the depth forward assigned to shutting down the opposition.
Let’s be honest here, though: if the Habs are terrible at killing penalties and these are the players that are on for most of the goals against, then what about trying some different players? That can’t be too odd, can it?
Perhaps it would be a good idea to try your best players on the penalty kill like a lot of teams do. Perhaps the NHL is so much about speed now that you better have some speed on the penalty kill attacking the puck quicker, so other teams can not set up in the zone so easily. Perhaps if your best players are on the ice killing the penalty, they can control the play a little bit better with their skills so the power play isn’t setting up so easily.
Perhaps trying something different when you are terrible at something else is normal problem-solving. Just a thought.
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It’s hard to pin a game on a goalie when the entire defence was so bad that the quality of shot that the goalie faced was high. It’s also hard to pin a game on the goalie when only one of the goals he allowed he should have stopped.
However, sports are about numbers, and the math surrounding Carey Price right now is horrific.
In the previous three games before Tuesday night against the Bruins, Price had a save percentage of .845. A save percentage of .845 is what happens just before retirement. Price had to recover against the Bruins, needing only to come up with better than an .845.
However, Price in this game had a save percentage of .545. Oof.
Price allowed five goals in the 11 shots that he faced before he was pulled. They need Price at .925. The Habs can have a terrible PK, a suspect defence that needs more talent, some injuries, and they can even have a scoring slump for a while. However, if they don’t have a strong Carey Price, they are not heading to the playoffs for a fourth year in the last five.
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In 2018-19, the Habs got off to such a tremendous start at the quarter mark that a playoff spot seemed a certainty. Then they went on a five-game losing skid.
In 2019-20, the Habs got off to the exact same start, with the exact same record. After a win over the Capitals, the Habs were six games over NHL .500. They have now completed the exact same slump. It’s five straight games now without a win. The sky is falling.
In truth, however, it isn’t — it just seems like it. Last season, that five-game slump was their longest of the season. They ended up with 96 points, which was just two points shy of a playoff spot. The Habs are on pace for 92 points. Their point total last season is the same as this season. Their record after 24 games last year: 11-8-5. Their record after 24 games this season: 11-8-5.
So while it may seem the sky is falling, it’s the same season as last after 24 games. It’s also not a playoff spot. They’ll have to get better.
So what is wrong? Let’s not complicate it too much, because it surely is not complicated.
With the eight goals that the Habs allowed in this one, they moved to 25th in the NHL in goals allowed. The Habs are pretty close to the worst team in the entire league on defence. There was not a single person in the media and also no one in intelligent hockey circles that didn’t tell you the team did not meet the needs that they had on defence this off-season. GM Marc Bergevin tried to improve it by getting a number one defender on the left side, but he was unable to get the job done.
Repeat: He did not get the job done.
They are where they are, ranked close to worst in goals allowed, because they simply do not have enough talent to play the modern game of defending. They do not have enough speed, and they do not have enough puck movers on the back end. The era of defending that kept Bergevin in the league almost two decades is not how defending is done anymore. The so-called stay-at-home defenceman can literally just stay at home now, because there’s really not much use for him anymore at the rink.
Cale Makar. Quinn Hughes. Miro Heiskanen. These are tomorrow’s stars today. The Habs are likely to be fine overall, if the goalie figures it out, but they won’t be amazing until they get some talent on the blue line that plays the modern game. No team 25th in the league in goals allowed makes the playoffs. This team won’t, either, until they improve the talent, or the goalie can figure out how to do .925 despite a porous defence.
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When the Canadiens took Mattias Norlinder with a pick early in the third round, there were a lot of people who were quite confused by the choice. Now it appears that the club may have found a sleeper NHLer.
It’s too early to confirm, of course, but Norlinder is doing everything to make Trevor Timmins look like a genius with this choice. Norlinder plays for Modo in the Allsvenskan and he is lighting it up. The left-handed defenceman has 12 points in 21 games on six goals and six assists. He is a force on the Modo club, regularly playing more than 20 minutes each game. When he was drafted, it really wasn’t even established yet what position Norlinder would play. All that was really established is Norlinder was a terrific skater.
Turns out he is also a terrific playmaker. Norlinder has been so good this early season that it is expected he will be on Sweden’s world junior team at the upcoming U20 championships.
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