Montreal Canadiens: The frustrating thing about shot totals

Last night’s game for the Montreal Canadiens was one that’s resembled many this season. A lot of shots, but unfortunately, a lack of finish.

“But they outshot them?!” You’ve probably heard or read that somewhere after a Montreal Canadiens loss. Last night was the latest example of a game where the Habs had more rubber at the net, but couldn’t make any of it find the back of the net. Sorry to pile on, but this is one of many examples this season.

The Habs have outshot their opponent 28 times this season. The frustration lies in the fact that they’re 11-14-3 when that happens. It’s a similar trend when it comes to scoring chances. Montreal has done a good job in outchancing the teams they face, unfortunately, sometimes there isn’t much to show for it.

As much as we talk about Artturi Lehkonen and Charles Hudon‘s poor luck despite the chances, the same is for the whole team.

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Granted, outshooting your opponent isn’t something that’s going to happen all the time. In most situations, more shots will be coming your way if you have the lead. Perhaps a late-game push turns into some power-play opportunities, and players just seem to get dialled in more when looking for a game-tying goal.

However, some of the games the Habs have been involved in when it comes to shots have been hair-pulling. Montreal outshot Winnipeg 50-23 in a game in November and lost 5-4 in overtime. Remember that game against the New York Islanders? Remember when the Habs put up 56 shots to their 24 and then lost in overtime? The only lopsided shot game where a win came their way was when they beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 and outshot them 40-22.

So, what’s the deal? They have capable players who have experience with completing the ever popular equation of stick + puck + net = goal. When looking at their latest loss to Colorado, almost everyone had at least one scoring chance while Brendan Gallagher, Tomas Plekanec (I know), and Karl Alzner (I knoooowww) had a pair in the high-danger zone.

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The issue isn’t the number of shots the Habs get; it’s where they’re coming from. Hockeyviz.com provides some phenomenal maps of NHL team’s shot locations. If you take a look at Montreal’s, there are some interesting trends.

The bulk of them are coming right in front of the net which is good. However, there are a multitude of shots coming from sharp angle positions in the offensive zone which is highly doubtful of finding twine. You can bank on the puck hitting a skate or a leg, but obviously, that’s a level of optimism that hasn’t been working.

Shot placement is another thing to look for. There’s a running gag of this on social media, but Plekanec’s shots do have a knack for hitting the goalie in the chest. Those aren’t going in. At the same time, there are moments where a slight hesitation gives the netminder an extra second to get square to the shot and stop it.

Sorry but, here’s an example:

As incredible of a save it was from Sergei Bobrovsky, Jacob de La Rose didn’t help himself by waiting a little bit.

The same thing happens when there’s not enough traffic in front. If the goalie can see it, odds are he’s stopping it. That could’ve been the reason why Claude Julien opted to have the power play make those quick passes around earlier in the season. They weren’t able to get the shots off as fast, and that could’ve been some further evidence as to why it wasn’t as good.

I’m sure these are things the coaching staff have already identified and are trying to improve on. For the most part, it very much could just be the luck of the draw. Some teams just have gallons of poison from all the snake bites they take in a season, it happens. However, if a few of those trends can be changed, it may help in the long run.

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What do you think about the Habs’ ‘outshooting’ problem? Is it something that can be fixed or worked on? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.