The Canadiens won’t win the series if they fall back into their old habits

Mathis Therrien
The Canadiens won’t win the series if they fall back into their old habits
Credit: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

The Canadiens nearly pulled off a huge upset last night against the Carolina Hurricanes, coming within a single shot of winning a game in which they played rather mediocrely.

In the end, the series is tied 1-1, which isn't bad for the Habs; on the contrary, it's a very good thing that Martin St-Louis's squad managed to pick up a win in Carolina.

However, the Habs will need to make adjustments to their game if they hope to regain the lead in the series and, more importantly, advance to the next round.

Indeed, the Canadiens certainly can't expect to come out on top in the remaining best-of-five series against the Hurricanes with this kind of performance.

It worked three times this season to beat Carolina with very few shots on goal (12 last night), but in a full series with games between the same two teams every other day, that won't cut it.

Shot volume becomes extremely important in the playoffs, and if the Habs don't find a way to break this bad habit, they're going to lose the series.

With so few shots, the Canadiens will lose 99% of their games, except for that famous nine-shot game in Game 7 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Obviously, we wouldn't be harping on this so much if the Habs had won and were leading the series 2-0, but right now, we have no choice but to look at what needs to be improved.

It's clear this is a bad habit on the part of the Habs, and it needs to change—both in terms of mindset and how we attack in the Hurricanes' zone.

This low shot total is due both to the Canes' strong defensive play and to the fact that the Habs are often looking for the perfect play rather than just getting pucks on net.

An adjustment is needed here, because as Martin St-Louis so aptly put it, the rest of the series will clearly mirror Game 2, not Game 1.

Every game will be a long, grueling, and fiercely contested battle, with few scoring chances.

The Habs will therefore have to be extremely opportunistic, especially if they can't manage to shoot on goal more often, as they did in last night's game.

Even though the volume of shots wasn't there, the Habs still had a few high-quality chances here and there, which gives hope that they'll manage to score goals despite few shots.

In fact, in terms of shot quality, Martin St-Louis's squad had only two fewer shots from the slot (7 vs. 9) than the Hurricanes in the entire game last night, despite a 26-12 shot advantage.

In short, aside from their low shot total, the Habs didn't look out of their depth last night, in a game where the Hurricanes were expected to be the dominant force.

This bodes well for the rest of the series; hopefully, the Habs will finally manage to win two straight games at the Bell Centre.


In a Nutshell

– Exactly.

– Two great draws.

– Well done!

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