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Games decided by a goal: this year, Habs win them (and it changes everything)
Félix Forget
Games decided by a goal: this year, Habs win them (and it changes everything)
Credit: Getty Images

It has now been more than a month since the Canadiens have been playing some very good hockey. In fact, they are downright the best team in the league (in terms of points percentage) for the past few weeks… and this, while the team was ranked 32nd in the overall standings back in November.

It’s a turn of events as spectacular as it is unexpected.

To explain this success, pretty much everyone has received their flowers. The big guns are performing well, the supporting forwards are helping, Alexandre Carrier has solidified the blue line, Lane Hutson is spectacular, Jakub Dobes is the reincarnation of Carey Price: choose your favorite from all that.

However, there is something that is not talked about much and was a point the team emphasized at the end of last season: games decided by one goal.

Because this year, the Canadiens are winning those games… and it changes everything. This even makes Serge Savard, who chatted with Marc de Foy (TVA Sports), wonder if the success of the Habs is truly that impressive.

The point made by the former defender and GM of the Canadiens is this: winning these one-goal games is often a sign that a team is capable of finding ways to win.

And this year (in fact, especially since November 10, when the team had a record of 5-9-2), the Habs are quite good at it.

When we look at the Canadiens’ record in games that have been decided by one goal, we see that it is 10-2-4. At the same point last year, it was 14-6-7.

All of this allows us to see two things: the team is playing a fewer number of very close games (before, it was because they were being crushed, but now, it’s because they are capable of being more dominant), and most importantly, it shows that they are winning them with much more consistency.

Last year, at the end of the season, the Canadiens’ record in those one-goal decided games was 17-11-16. It should be remembered that at the end of last season, the team emphasized the importance of winning those games more regularly, as they could very well have been close to the playoffs if they had been able to replace a few overtime losses with wins.

But above all, what all this indicates is that at the moment, the Canadiens are capable of winning close games… and unlike in previous years, the fact that they are playing fewer of them (and continue to win) demonstrates that they do not always need to be rescued by their goalie. That too is something we haven’t seen in a long time in Montreal.


In Brief

– No surprises here.

– Joseph Woll will face the Habs tonight.

– Things are going well for hockey in the Montreal area.

– The defensive impact of Alexandre Carrier with the Habs in numbers.

– Great read.

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