CANADIENS SEEK SOLUTIONS FOR FAILURES IN OVERTIME
Ducharme still trying to find the right combinations for success at 3-on-3 play
Overtime continues to be a major stumbling block for the Canadiens, who dropped a 4-3 OT decision to the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday. The Canadiens are 0-6 this season in games that have extended beyond regulation time. Four of those losses have been decided in 3-on-3 play, while the others ended in shootouts.
An optimist will say the Canadiens salvaged six points in the standings. A realist understands they lost six points.
The last two overtime losses were to the Jets and they offer evidence that interim head coach Dominique Ducharme is still trying to find a solution for the team's OT failures.
In the 2-1 loss to the Jets last Saturday, Ducharme took a conservative approach and started Phil Danault, Jeff Petry and Joël Armia against three Winnipeg forwards. As Ducharme explained after the game, the plan was for Danault to win the faceoff and give the Canadiens control of the puck.
The problem is that faceoffs are usually a 50-50 proposition, which was the case for Danault that night in regulation. Danault lost the draw and the Jets scored 36 seconds later.
Montreal hung in a little longer Thursday — Pierre-luc Dubois scored the winner at 4:29 — but the twittersphere was filled with questions about Ducharme's personnel decisions.
Ducharme had the right intentions when he decided to go the three-forward route. He said he wanted to use the Suzuki line, but Jonathan Drouin was cramping and Tyler Toffoli was still recovering from an earlier shift. The result was Suzuki between Tomas Tatar and Paul Byron. Toffoli showed up later with Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Byron.
There seems to be confusion about the nature of 3-on-3 hockey, which should be an advantage to the Canadiens who pride themselves on their speed. However, Montreal negated that advantage by giving too much OT time to defencemen Shea Weber and Ben Chiarot, while Alexander Romanov, who arguably is the team's most mobile blueliner, sits on the bench.
There are also questions about why Brendan Gallagher doesn't see the ice in overtime, but this makes a little more sense because, by his own admission, he's not a sniper. He's a mucker who scores by working hard in traffic and you don't see that on the highway that is 3-on-3 hockey.
The Canadiens have a better idea of what they're doing on the power play, which is 4-for-8 since assistant coach Alex Burrows took charge. The problem is figuring out how to draw more penalties. The Canadiens scored on their only power play Thursday and it's difficult to take advantage of the improvement when they only get two chances a game.
RIP WALTER GRETZKY
Canada lost its hockey dad Thursday when Walter Gretzky died after a nine-year battle with Parkinson's disease. He was 82.
Walter is best known as Wayne Gretzky's father, but he dedicated his lifetime to minor hockey and charitable endeavours, most notably the CNIB — which is dedicated to assisting Canadians who are blind or living with vision loss — a beneficiary of the annual Wayne Gretzky golf tournament.
Walter Gretzky deserves a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder. In shaping Wayne's career beginning as a three-yearold on a backyard rink, Walter served as a model for what a hockey parent should be.
“He taught me the basics of life as far as schooling, as far as how I treated people,” Wayne said during a 1996 interview with the CBC. “I don't think there's any question in my mind I wouldn't be playing professional hockey if it wasn't for him.
SECOND ACT FOR SUTTER
The Calgary Flames are bringing back noted cattle rancher Darryl Sutter for a second stint as head coach. He replaces Geoff Ward, who once served as Claude Julien's assistant with the Boston Bruins.
While the Canadiens swapped out Julien for Ducharme because they wanted a younger, modern coach, the Flames are going in the opposite direction. Sutter, 62, is definitely an old-school coach. While he is known for being protective of his players and a master motivator, his motivational skills involve a lot of shouting.
He led the Flames to the Stanley Cup final in 2004 and won the Cup with the Los Angeles Kings in 2012 and 2014.
When he was fired by the Kings in 2017, he hoped to return to the Flames, but GM Brad Treliving hired Bill Peters, and Sutter announced that he would return to full-time ranching on the 3,000-acre family spread in Viking, which is a four-hour drive northeast of Calgary.
The coaching change was announced one hour after the Flames defeated the Ottawa Senators 7-3 on Thursday. Calgary has an 11-11-2 record and is fifth in the Canadian division. The Flames are two points behind the Canadiens, but Montreal has two games in hand.