Montreal 3 Toronto 2 OT (Air Canada Center)
The game statistics should no longer shock us. The Canadiens will be outshot in most games played. They rank 29th in the league in shots against. Only Florida is worse. The Habs are 28th in the NHL in shots for.
By giving up shots and taking few, the Habs will spend a disproportionate amount of time in their own end. It goes hand-in-hand that the Habs will heavily rely on their goaltenders to steal games for them. Both Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak have done so.
The Canadiens will take more penalties than their opponent. They rank 29th in the number of minor penalties. Philadelphia is the only team in the league that heads to the box more for two-minute infractions.
Given that the they spend so much time in the own end while five-on-five, the Habs will need effective special teams to win games. The Canadiens have the number one power-play in the league and are seventh in penalty-killing.
If the game is time after regulation, the Habs have a very good chance to win the game. They have the best overtime/shootout record at 10-3.
It should come as no surprised that the Habs won tonight. They were outshot 49-23. The game was decided in overtime. The Canadiens took twice as many penalties as the Leafs but the penalty-killers were perfect including enduring a lengthy 5-on-3 by Toronto. The Habs’ power-play was successful on 50 percent of their opportunities.
This is the anatomy of a Jacques Martin coached win. After 40 games, if he wasn’t happy with the results, he would have made changes. Yet, game after game there are similar themes. A valid conclusion is that these characteristics are part of a coach Martin game plan.
By design, the Canadiens are a passive team that sit back and let the opposition dictate the play. They are very undisciplined but rely on their goaltending and special teams to bail them out.
Tonight, the Habs were able to get an early 2-0 lead before the game was five minutes old. Then, they sat back for two and a half periods while the Leafs ran up the shot count.
Halak wasn’t tested in the first period despite facing 16 shots. The Leafs are the number one team in the league in shots on goal and are not very discriminating. Very few were serious scoring chances. But with Toronto outshooting Montreal 33-13 in the final two periods, Halak came up with a number of big saves.
Tomas Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn continue to lead the team offensively. Each got a goal with Kostistyn fooling Toronto netminder Jonas Gustavasson with a quick release for the overtime winner.
Mike Cammalleri is struggling especially on the road. Cammalleri has one goal in his last nine games.
Don’t look now but Scott Gomez has five points in his last two games. Without Brian Gionta, Gomez had 12 points in 14 games in the month of December.
Sergei Kostitsyn and Benoit Pouliot will be difficult to move off the second line. Sergei Kostitsyn has been excellent when shorthanded and although it’s early, Pouliot shows glimpses of his potential.
The Canadiens fourth line is going nowhere fast and is in need of an overhaul.
Andrei Markov had another two points tonight. Jaroslav Spacek may have benefited from the time without Markov to take a defensive leadership role. Ryan O’Byrne brings a simple, physical game and helps us to forget Mike Komisarek.
On Monday in Ottawa, the Canadiens will have a chance to score the 20,000th goal for the franchise.
Rocket’s three stars
1. Jaroslav Halak
2. Jason Blake
3. Andrei Kostitsyn
Special mention: Andrei Markov, Tomas Plekanec, Scott Gomez
Material from wire services was used in this report.
(photo credit: AP)
It is logical to conclude that thi is exactly how Jacques Martin has drawn up the game plan. My question is "is he insane?"
Nobody in their right mind can possibly believe this can lead to sustained winning, especially if this is the system he plans on using in the playoffs. I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but in the playoffs, you don't play the Islanders, Thrashers, Leafs and Hurricanes. The refs also tend to put their whistles away, which negates their special teams, or at least mitigates them.
I've come up with a couple ways to describe the way the Canadiens are playing:
Leaving burning bags of crap on the Hockey God's doorstep, and getting away with it;
Or
Kicking an 80 yard field goal, bouncing the ball off the roof, both posts, then the cross bar, and having it land fair and then having the balls to say that "I meant to do that".
Neither scenario lasts for long and neither brings any credibility.
I know, I know, at the end of the day it's the 2 points that count – end of story. That doesn't mean that I have to like the way the Habs are playing, nor do I have to admit that they're playing well, or smart. Banking on 40+ saves by a goaltender, and hoping that the special teams play at an unbelievable level is a recipe for suicide.
I was listening to Pierre Houde ask Benoit Brunet about how difficult is it for a coach to fix these glaring problems like you mentioned with such a schedule. It's really no secret that the team is relying on luck. I mean that Atlanta game could have easily gone the way of the Wild game had there not been a powerplay or if Bergeron had missed like he did in that game instead of scoring to bring it to OT. Brunet said it's extremely difficult because the players need rest to heal properly so all Martin can do is verbally attempt to fix the errors (meetings, video). It doesn't seem to be working, but one thing that seems to be working is they're not waiting until the 3rd period to try and score…so hopefully if they can score in the 1st and do this more often, it'll bring about a better outcome. But there's still a lot of work for them to do.
On the bright side, though… we could be the Oilers. Still miss Souray? Um…I don't, really. Only sentimentally miss him.
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