GOAL SCARCITY HAMPERS HABS
Canadiens’ lack of offensive depth visible as only two players have at least 40 points
It doesn’t matter who your coach is or what new system you’re using, one thing never changes in hockey: the team that scores the most goals wins.
And however far the Canadiens end up going this season, it certainly seems like a lack of offence will eventually be their downfall. They simply don’t have enough depth when it comes to scoring goals.
A case in point was Thursday night’s 5-0 loss to the Flames in Calgary. The Flames, who won their eighth straight and have earned points in 10 consecutive games (9-0-1), have five players with at least 40 points. The Canadiens have only two: Max Pacioretty (31-27-58) and Alexander Radulov (15-31-46).
Pacioretty hasn’t scored in five games and Radulov is out with a lower-body injury, which partially explains why the Canadiens were shut out in Calgary.
The Canadiens had won six straight before losing to the Flames, but won two of those games by scoring two goals and another by scoring only one. Carey Price was in goal for all three of those games and has won five straight starts while posting a mind-boggling .964 save percentage. Price didn’t play in Calgary because of the flu, but it wouldn’t have mattered if he did unless he was dressed as a forward and could score.
A .964 save percentage is not sustainable — even for Price — so the Canadiens are going to have to start scoring more goals. But as GM Marc Bergevin said after the NHL trade deadline passed on March 1, scoring goals is not easy late in the season as the playoff races heat up.
Of course, Bergevin didn’t do much to help the Canadiens score more goals at the trade deadline, acquiring forwards Dwight King, Steve Ott, Andreas Martinsen and defenceman Brandon Davidson, who have combined for 14 goals this season — none since joining the Canadiens.
The Canadiens were averaging 3.4 goals per game when they got off to a 9-0-1 start, but after Thursday’s loss fell to 18th in the NHL in that category with an average of 2.69. The power play has also dropped to 12th with a 20.5 per cent success rate.
Goals are definitely getting harder to score — especially for a team like the Canadiens that doesn’t have much offensive depth. The Senators moved within two points of the firstplace Canadiens in the Atlantic Division on Thursday night when they beat the Arizona Coyotes 3-2 in overtime on a goal by offensive-minded defenceman Erik Karlsson. The Senators, who hold two games in hand on the Canadiens, have four players with more than 40 points: Karlsson (61), Mark Stone (50), Mike Hoffman (46) and Kyle Turris (44).
The Washington Capitals and Columbus Blue Jackets — the two top teams in the Eastern Conference standings after Thursday’s games — both had five players with at least 40 points, while the third-place Pittsburgh Penguins had four before facing the Oilers in Edmonton on Friday night.
You have to wonder where the Canadiens would be if Bergevin hadn’t taken a risk on free-agent Radulov last summer. Pacioretty hasn’t been the same player the last three games Radulov has missed with his injury.
Phillip Danault, the Canadiens’ first-line centre, hasn’t scored in 20 games and it’s not from a lack of effort on his part.
After Thursday’s loss, Pacioretty was asked if he is concerned by a lack of team offence.
“We just won six in a row, so I don’t know if I’m in the place to comment on that,” the captain said. “We liked the way we were playing as of late. Tonight is definitely not our identity, that’s not our team. But we’ll make sure we come out flying against Edmonton.”
The Canadiens enjoyed a day off Friday in Edmonton — which should help Price fight off his flu bug — and will wrap up their Western Canada trip Sunday against the Oilers (7 p.m., SN, RDS, TSN Radio 690).
Coach Claude Julien has made the Canadiens a better team since taking over from Michel Therrien, posting a 7-3-0 record so far while putting a swarming defence into place to cut down on shots against and time spent in the defensive zone. But after going four straight games allowing less than 30 shots, the Flames fired 38 at Montoya. It wasn’t the goalie’s fault the Canadiens lost after they were outshot 16-5 in the first period and were only losing 1-0.
“Our whole game suffered,” said Julien, adding his players looked tired for some reason and didn’t have their skating legs. “We were second to the pucks, we were slow to close, all those kind of things. It all crept into our game here, so I don’t think that defensive part of our game is a worry. Hopefully we get our skating legs going, we’ll get some scoring chances like we did the other night in Vancouver (a 2-1 overtime win against the Canucks). We had a lot of quality scoring chances, we only scored one in regulation. But we were creating them and we’ll keep working on that.”
They better.
We were second to the pucks, we were slow to close, all those kind of things.