Therrien sticks to ‘the system’ for rest of season
But emphasizing defence shows signs of weakness
Michel Therrien will stay the course.
The Canadiens’ head coach and the defence-first system he employs came under fire Thursday night after his team blew a two-goal lead against the Ottawa Senators, losing 5-2 at the Bell Centre.
It wasn’t so much that the Canadiens have lost five of their last six games — though that’s certainly part of it. What seemed to irk people was the impression that, after pulling away by two goals, the Canadiens turtled.
The Habs, who visit the New York Islanders on Saturday (7 p.m., CITY, RDS, TSN Radio 690), seemed to stop pressuring the Sens and gave up a series of odd-man rushes that cost them the game. Whether this is a byproduct of Therrien’s system is debatable, but the coach found himself defending it Thursday night and again Friday morning after practice in Brossard.
“Regarding system and stuff like that,” Therrien said, loudly exhaling. “We’re not changing it. Nothing. I don’t think any team at this time of year is changing anything.”
The coach said he will continue to tweak the team’s strategy. In fact, he conceded that he’s shuffling small things around so that the Habs will be “comfortable” when the playoffs begin next month.
Fundamentally, though, “the system” is here to stay and Therrien is willing to stake his reputation on its merits. That’s probably the weirdest thing about the coach’s latest tenure at the helm of the Canadiens. The team is tied for first place in the Eastern Conference and there’s this idea floating around — exactly where it originated is unclear — that Therrien is fighting to keep his job.
In fairness to the coach, his players have shown that they can outclass the league’s best teams. Even during off nights, the Habs have found a way to win — which, I’m told, is the hallmark of a championship team.
A quick glance at the numbers, though, doesn’t exactly support the theory that the Habs’ defensive strategy is working. The team allows an average of 30.4 shots against per game — no other team holding down a playoff spot fares worse in this category.
Some would contend that the Canadiens are keeping those shots to the outside, nullifying the statistic’s importance. That’s possible if you ignore the fact Montreal allows the ninth most scoring chances against in the NHL.
It’s tough to argue that the X factor here had been the stellar play of Carey Price — who leads NHL goalies in wins (37), goalsagainst average (1.93) and save percentage (.935).
The players aren’t daft, they’re aware of this phenomenon.
“Our goaltender has been there to bail us out all year,” forward Dale Weise said. “We can’t ask him to stand on his head all the time. Even when he does, we’re trying to limit our turnovers, we’re trying to put more pucks to the net.”
Tom Gilbert said that just calling the Canadiens’ strategy a “system” oversimplifies it.
“We have a whole set of systems for the defensive zone, the neutral zone and the offensive zone,” he said. “It’s there to give you the best success you can have on the ice. If someone makes a mistake, someone’s got your back. Our system is there to create turnovers, to take away the other team’s options and turn that into offence.
“Against Ottawa, we had breakdowns. We sort of stopped skating into our (assigned) spots in the system. That created holes and Ottawa is a team with a lot of offence. They exploited that.”
In other words — and this is a sentiment Therrien expressed on Friday — the system only works if players commit to it fully.
Whether it’s a case of the system itself being flawed or of the players not buying into it with enough zeal, the Canadiens are in a rut with 14 games left in the regular season. Therrien was asked Friday if this is the first true test of his team’s young leadership group.
He deflected the question.
“It’s an interesting question, but big tests … sometimes when you’re facing what we’ve been facing lately, (the solution) doesn’t come overnight," he said.
"You wish that you resolved those things overnight but, as far as I’m concerned, you need
to find the competitiveness from each player to find success. ... I don’t see any problem with fighting with adversity sometimes."
Whether the non-answer was intentional or not, Therrien knows that his young leaders
aren’t the ones who’ll shoulder the lion’s share of the blame if things go south in the playoffs. That burden belongs to him.
It may not be fair, but that’s hockey.