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Canadien: it’s just as bad on the power play as it is on the penalty kill

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Canadien: it’s just as bad on the power play as it is on the penalty kill

There was a recurring theme at the start of the season: the Habs are good at five-on-five. At one point, the club was among the league’s good teams at even strength.

Of course, that was in October. The sample size was small… but more importantly, with Martin St-Louis’ men suffering from indiscipline and taking a lot of penalties, the game was rarely five-on-five.

There was a time when the power play stabilized a little (the CH had a power play that held out of Christian charity, but it worked), but in recent weeks, it’s been difficult.

Need I remind you that just last week, we were talking about an eight-game stretch without finding the back of the net with a man on for the Habs?

No, it’s not ideal.

And let’s just say that things aren’t much better at the numerical disadvantage. As Simon-Olivier Lorange of La Presse reports, the Habs have given away at least one shorthanded goal in seven of their last ten games.

According to the La Presse reporter, since November 14, the CH has been giving up about a goal every three chances while defending with fewer men on the ice.

The CH misses David Savard, who won’t return to action tonight.

Johnathan Kovacevic confirmed that the guys continue to work hard as a group to get through. He says that rehearsals help and that you have to work as a foursome to improve.

At least they know what to work on.

The trend [of the diamond technique in the short-handed] started six or seven games ago.

Our opponents started exposing us with plays down in the zone, where we gave them too much space. – Johnathan Kovacevic

That’s all well and good, but the club still ranks 29th (73.4% efficiency) in the league in PK. And on the power play, they’ve quickly slipped from 10th to 23rd (17.8%) in the NHL, as of this morning.

No, it won’t be easy against the Kings tonight…

The Habs, while a little more disciplined these days, have still taken 116 penalties in 25 games this season, fourth in the league. They’ve taken 113, which puts them in the top-10, ninth in the league.

Of course, always relying on special units tires some guys more than others.


Highlights

– Caroline Ouellette will be honoured tonight at the Bell Centre.

– Connor Bedard is not happy right now. [JdeM]

– Oh, yeah.

– Nice catch.

– Keep an eye on the Flames until March.

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