Game three is often the pivotal game of a series. The Montreal Canadiens were dominated in game two after stealing game one in Toronto thanks to an outstanding performance from Carey Price. Back at the Bell Centre, Price did his part as he was sensational, but the offence floundered again, with Toronto winning 2-1. In the last 31 playoffs games, the Canadiens have scored 63 times.
Wilde Horses
The young players on the Canadiens are the future. In these playoffs, they are getting more and more familiar with what it takes to succeed at a level of play that is much higher than what they are used to. Jesperi Kotkaniemi was in the press box for game one. He was strong in game two and continued to be effective in the third game. Kotkaniemi was also one of the best players in last year’s playoffs. Now, he needs to get more consistent in the regular season. Also, Kotkaniemi was the Canadiens best face-off man by a large margin in this one. He was 80 per cent through two periods in the dot when everyone else struggled mightily.
The best of the young players is Nick Suzuki. He really has a sweet finish to his shot when he comes down the right side with that snapshot. It seems as if Suzuki fools goalies with that shot. The success rate is extremely high on his shot late in the season and into the playoffs. Suzuki was more than a point-per-game in the last quarter of the season. He looks like he has 80 point seasons in him. That’s huge for a club that has been hunting for a top centre for two decades. It feels like they have found one.
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The final of the young players who played well with limited ice time in their first NHL playoff game was Cole Caufield. He has not gained the confidence of the head coach, so he certainly didn’t play much, but when he was on, he showed that finish that is vital. Sometimes it feels like Canadiens head coaches see defensive errors more from players they are expecting it from, so they had Caufield on a very short leash for perceived issues, one assumes. That means very little time to get on the scoreboard, which is rather vital as well. Caufield ripped a shot off the crossbar early in the contest. He took it to the net nicely for another opportunity later.
In the third period, Caufield and Suzuki showed great chemistry again, as they did at the end of the regular season. They read each other very well. It’s easy to see them connecting for a lot of years together. They have a bright future and they seem to connect. Their left side winger is going to have to be a big-bodied puck battler, though. Someone has to win the puck with those two smaller players.
One should not neglect mentioning the old guard either when they are shining — and one definitely shone brightly. Carey Price kept the contest close. The Leafs absolutely started to bomb the Canadiens in the second period. There was one sequence late in the second period that Auston Matthews had a tap in from three feet and Price shot out his leg. Matthews persisted to get it back in front. Price reset for a second save. This time it was off Mitch Marner. The rebound came to Marner again. He had an open net and Price shot out his glove. Three saves in three seconds and they were all outstanding.
This followed a first period in which Price made one of the best saves of his entire career, and that’s saying something. Jason Spezza had a wide-open net and Price was well out of his net cutting down the angle on a shot that instead was a pass. Spezza surely thought that he had an easy one, but Price persisted. He pushed off that powerful leg and shot out his stick in desperation. That stick was two feet off the ice and Spezza shot right at it. In his mind, his idea was all he has to do is get it off the ice. That’s all that is usually required there. It wasn’t enough.
Just as all of this good from three young guns and a veteran superstar was not enough. The rest of the Canadiens simply could not keep up with the Maple Leafs. There was not enough talent to contend with the Leafs.
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Wilde Goats
One aspect of the Canadiens this season that they could rely on was the play of Philip Danault, but he’s had a rough series. The offence is always a challenge. It’s no story that he has provided hardly a chance on net, as that line has been so bad that it was broken up.
No, what’s worse is that he has struggled mightily against Auston Matthews as one of the best players in the game has shone. The face-off circle has been especially telling. In the series, Danault has been getting destroyed by Matthews, hovering in the thirties for the Canadiens defensive specialist. When Danault lost the face-off leading directly to the game’s first goal, his face-off percentage dropped to 35 per cent.
When you have a player getting a ton of ice time and supposedly one of the best defensive forwards in the league, you’re going to have to be better than 30 per cent in the dot and getting manhandled on the regular by Matthews. One of the huge arguments about the future is how much money for Tatar and Danault as unrestricted free agents. It’s been argued here that the two need to be signed, but it’s easy to vacillate off of that right now because any Habs success goes through beating Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, and these two players Danault and Tatar can not handle that challenge. Then again, who can? Talent wins games, and those two are supremely talented. As mentioned, it’s easy to vacillate on this.
Another shift that Matthews and Marner shone was when Jon Merrill gave the puck away two times when he could have cleared it out. By the end of the second period shift, the Canadiens were exhausted. Merrill had 12 games as a regular for Montreal after joining the team from Detroit. He was minus 12. Alexander Romanov is in the wings waiting to join the line-up after playing all season long. While Romanov is inexperienced and it would be a big moment with pressure and maybe even the odd giveaway, the Canadiens aren’t winning the Stanley Cup this year. If you want to plan for the future, then plan for it.
If Merrill were clearly superior, then accept the argument that he must be in because of the disparity between the two players. This is not the case. Not even close.
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Another aspect of the Canadiens game that might be their undoing in the series is the power play. It’s bizarre how many times the team suffers from subtraction by addition. They add trading deadline deals and they’re a club that is not as good as before. Just as when the injured come back to healthy, they’re not as good as before on the power play. They get Shea Weber back for the power play and he immediately goes on the first unit, so the club can have the most predictable power play in the league. Weber’s shot is hard, but it’s 2021, and you’re not beating goalies from 55 feet. Also, Brendan Gallagher is running out of fingers to break.
The club needs to have a lot more variety in their attack. They’re so easy to defend. They pass it around the outside and then back to Weber to fire a completely saveable shot. And why is Cole Caufield not on the left side for his potent right handed shot? He would take that from 25 feet out on the half wall. That would have a much higher success rate than a 55 footer. Matthews is set up for this shot from 25 feet all night long every night, if you want to know what it looks like.
One other aspect of a good power play that is often overlooked is you have to work as hard as your opponent. You still have to win puck battles. You don’t get handed the offensive zone easily. They press and they pressure, and you have to be prepared to work. They don’t win enough battles with an extra man advantage.
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As has been said here all season repeatedly, the Canadiens lack an ability to clear the zone. They have too many defenders who can win the puck battle, but then can’t get the puck out fast enough to end that puck battle and that puck battle renews one second later. That’s why they’re called stay-at-home defencemen, because they’re stuck-at-home a lot. That has to change. It’s the one thing that needs to change most.
The team needs puck moving defenders. The Habs want to be a fast team, but they can’t transition fast enough to make that happen when they are unable to get out of their zone with great skating from defenders or great outlet passes from defenders. They end up just getting stuck.
There’s a hole in the roster. When the Canadiens got out to their 7-1-2 start, no one knew there was that hole to expose. The Calgary Flames Darryl Sutter figured it out first: pressure those immobile defenders. Since then, it’s the same strategy from every team to expose that difficulty. Don’t worry. Help is coming with some good prospects and high draft picks, but for now, the shots were 28-14 Toronto halfway through the third period because coaches have learned how to make sure the hockey is played in Montreal’s end.
Wilde Cards
The Montreal Canadiens organization did have one champion this season. Sean Farrell had two assists for the Chicago Steel as they beat the Fargo Force 3-1 in game four of the USHL final. The Steel took their second straight title with a 3-1 series win. The Steel are the first team since 2013’s Dubuque Fighting Saints to win the regular season Anderson Cup and the playoffs Clark Cup in the same year.
Farrell was the leading scorer in the regular season for the Steel, amassing 101 points. In eight playoff games, he had two goals and eight assists for ten points as the Steel rolled through the playoffs with barely a challenge.
Farrell is small at 5 foot 9 inches, so that is why he slipped all the way to the fourth round in the NHL draft. Trevor Timmins is hoping that he can be one of those rare players who keeps scoring whatever league he plays in because that’s his gift. It doesn’t always have to end in a big man’s league — the NHL — for smaller players, though, it often does.
Farrell was supposed to play for Harvard in 2020-2021, but the Ivy League cancelled its season due to COVID-19. He will get a chance to make his debut this fall. It should be fun to see, if he can keep the remarkable numbers up, or even strong numbers at the higher level of competition.
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