Posted by Kyle Roussel
AllHabs.blogspot.com
AllHabs.blogspot.com
Fresh off my hopeful prediction of a 7-game triumph over the Bruins, here are my brief thoughts on what I believe to be the keys to success for the Habs:
1- Goaltending: Carey Price has to be consistently very good, if not brilliant. A perfect example was the season finale in Pittsburgh. Price stopped 38 of 41 shots for a terrific .927 save percentage. Good enough, right? Well not if he gives up goals like he did to Malkin and Letang. Fat rebounds and getting beat cleanly on non-screened shots are labeled as “softies” and are killers to playoff success. He’s got to eliminate his season-long habit of giving up a soft goal per game. He’ll probably need to steal a game or two, something he has not done a lot of this year.
2- Special teams: The power play. If the Bruins are going to continue to intimidate and punish the Canadiens physically, then the Canadiens better hope that the officials see things their way and call the game as such. The Canadiens scored 3 goals on the power play on Thursday vs Boston after getting bullied by the Bruins. If the Bruins want to continue to play this way – why wouldn’t they? – then the Canadiens will have to make them pay.
The penalty kill: Chris Higgins and Glen Metropolit have been good recently, and they will have to continue to be so. The other advantage to their good penalty killing roles is that it keeps the big offensive guns fresh for 5-on-5 or power play situations.
3- Team defense: Oh brother Andrei, where art thou? Without him, the Canadiens defense looks sloppy and shaky. Schneider is sucking up the pain of a tough shoulder injury to keep the power play aloft, but he’s only so useful in even strength and PK situations.
4- Coaching: Will Gainey be able to out-coach the man he fired in 2006? I believe Gainey’s strategy will be to push the pace of the game, use skill, speed and special teams to beat the Bruins. Inserting Georges Laraque and/or Gregory Stewart will do nothing but distract from the strategy. The loud mouthes of the media will come out in droves if Julien is able to knock off Gainey’s team, especially this year.
5- Secondary Scoring: Tomas Plekanec has to pick up the Kostitsyn brothers and begin to put up points. There’s no 2 ways about it. He’s been absent almost all year, has promised to show up for the playoffs. He has to honour that promise.
Those are 5 big-ticket items. It looks like hockey 101 to me, but the Canadiens have been wildly inconsistent this year and they need to put all the pieces together now. If you’re reading between the lines, I’m suggesting that the Canadiens need to do a lot of things that they have not done all year long. This is why my head says Boston, while my heart says Habs. This is what makes the playoffs great. The playoffs are fertile ground for upsets, and they occur every year. With history on our side, why can’t the Canadiens do it again?
Nice to see you on All Habs Kyle!
I hope you’re right and the Habs pull off what they haven’t been doing very much of this season. We’ll see. At the very least I hope they push Boston to more than the 5 games I’ve predicted Boston will win in… *sighs*
Habs have co starters in net this season, don’t forget. It doesn’t necessarily fall on Price’s shoulders to “Carey” the load. “Jaros ‘l ‘av Ha lak” to say about the team’s fortunes in the playoffs as well. :)
The “Big Bad Bruins” rap is also overrated in my eyes. Chara is as big, mean, and ugly as they come, but if he gets out of hand the Bruins lose their only serious blueline talent, Julien wants him on the ice as much as possible. Lucic and Thornton are the other two players on the team that combine size and toughness, but I don’t see much difference between the Bruins throwing out Chara, Stuart, Lucic, Thornton, Wheeler, Ward, vs. the Habs throwing out Komisarek, O’Byrne, Laraque, Lapierre, Latendresse, or Stewart.
I’m too lazy to compare the average size of the players on the respective teams, but I doubt there is much of a difference, one way or the other. Neither team is going to win or lose this series due to physical intimidation.
I think this is an excellent summary, Kyle.
I guess the problem is, if I may sum up: the Canadiens have to be better than they have been all year, in all aspects of the game.
not a lot to ask, right?
I don’t see much difference between the Bruins throwing out Chara, Stuart, Lucic, Thornton, Wheeler, Ward, vs. the Habs throwing out Komisarek, O’Byrne, Laraque, Lapierre, Latendresse, or Stewart.
The difference is 40… as in, the scoring differential between these groups.
All the better for the Habs, if that is the case, Tom. If they can take a 40 goal season scoring advantage off the ice with one good line brawl, (or a few minor skirmishes), it is to Montreal’s benefit. It seems that the Bruins would come out second best instigating physical confrontations, on the scoresheet if not in the fisticuffs.
Average size of the players is not the point. Boston is a physical team. The Habs are not. Nice as it would be to keep Chara and Lucic locked up in the penalty box it is only an advantage if the power play can use it to their advantage. Agree with your take Kyle. Special teams especially have not been consistent. They will have to come through like theres no tomorrow, or there will not be. Everything will have to come together and anything can happen if the boyz can step up their game. Should be an exciting match. Go Habs Go.
Well, it seems to me you can’t have it both ways. If the Bruins are that much more of a “physical” team, then they will take more penalties, take themselves out of the play more looking for a big hit, and likely tire themselves out more over a stretch of intense games. If “physical” play was the simple answer to success, all teams would adopt it.
If you look at the makeup of the most successful teams in recent years, not many were particularly “physical”. If there is a model of success, it has to be the Detroit Red Wings, who have a large contingent of smaller, skilled, European players, mixed with the odd grinder.
Agreed. Not a proponent of “physical” strategies either. The problem for the Habs will be, as I thinking Tom was suggesting, is that ‘grinders’ like Lucic and Chara also make the most of each of their scoring opportunities. So when you look at the percentages, Boston can afford to have these guys cool it in the penalty box once in a while without much risk overall. They more than make up for it in the end. The Habs record on special teams during regular season, although it picked up in the last two months, suggests they need to keep their five on the ice and still have yet to master taking advantage of their one man advantage. I suspect penalty killing and power plays will be a big factor if not the deciding factor in this particular round.
If they can take a 40 goal season scoring advantage off the ice with one good line brawl, (or a few minor skirmishes), it is to Montreal’s benefit. For one thing, that’s not much of a strategy in a 7-game series.
For another, none of the players listed above are among the Bruins’ top-5 goal scorers. Taking them out might hurt Boston’s depth, but one assumes it will hurt the Habs’ depth as well.
It seems to me that Montreal would actually do quite poorly to send its better defensive players to the box, while leaving the Bruins’ top scorers on the ice…
Great snapshot Kyle. You are everywhere :-)
I think it can be summed up quickly. Price has to be the best player on the ice every game. If he and the Habs can throw some doubt in the Bruins minds, let the riots begin :-)
And PP – Habs need to be 25% or better on PP
Price and Halak were pretty close statistically over the regular season in all departments. I don’t agree with the consensus that the team’s fortunes ride on the shoulders of Carey. Career wise, the two are also very close, (although there isn’t a lot to work on), both in the NHL and in the AHL. I’m sure that Price will start, but it will just take one stinker performance to bring on Halak.
As Rob said earlier, it would be a mistake to expect Price to ‘Carey’ the full load. That’s a lot of pressure on the kid and not justified with Halak on the roster. No reason they can’t share the spotlight. Hope Bob can maximize the potential there. Between the two, it would be great to see some shut outs to shake up Boston’s confidence as the Habs take the best of seven!
One can wish, right?
Habs in 7, regardless what Maggie the monkey thinks!!!!
Hi all,
Great comments, and I appreciate them all. Nothing like getting a good conversation started on our Habs.
@cnadeau – I agree, Price will have to be the Habs best player night in, night out.
It will be interesting to see how short of leash Bob Gainey will give Price. Will he yank him after 1 bad game? Would that irreparably shatter his confidence? What happens if Halak stinks it up too?
With Markov being out of the lineup until further notice, it will affect the entire team, as we saw down the stretch. Price can play the role of the great equalizer, and he will have to.
Don’t think Gainey has the luxury of worrying about Price’s confidence at this point in time. Price is young, he has lots of time to recover. Gainey isn’t as young, and his reputation and legacy are on the line to a large degree over the next few weeks. There is no objective evidence to suggest that the team is better off with Price in goal vs. Halak, both have had their ups and downs, this season and in the past.
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