Four Lingering Questions for the Montreal Canadiens
By Omar L
Is the Power Play any Better?
When your team goes on the man advantage, and no one has confidence in that they’ll do anything with it, there’s a massive problem. The Montreal Canadiens power play finished 30th in the league at 13.2% but spent a lot of time in the season as the worst.
Many blamed Kirk Muller and his system, but the effectiveness of the Canadian power play at the World Hockey Championships in Slovakia quickly changed that narrative. Granted, it’s a different set of circumstances with bigger ice, but Canada’s units were doing more with the puck than the Montreal Canadiens ever did all season.
The issue was the personnel. The entire two minutes would wind up being a game of mildly hot potato as the players on the ice would continue to pass and make stoppable shots. The times they were able to score early on into the slump was when they were given opportunities similar to their scoring chances at 5v5.
Speed down the wing to break into the zone followed by shots and/or passing plays in front of the net to keep the goalie moving and force the opposition out of position. Besides that, it would be the ‘set up Shea Weber‘ show or have one player try to do too much and end up turning the puck over.
On paper, the power play hasn’t changed. What the Montreal Canadiens can bank on is perhaps more creativity from a more experienced Jesperi Kotkaniemi and more net-front play with Ryan Poehling in the fold. Another thing that can help is a better season overall from Jonathan Drouin, who has the tools to be the main trigger on the power play and dictate scoring chances.
The downside to that is it’ll take a lot of patience, trust and reassurance. If the Habs start the season with another underwhelming power play, it could continue to cost them games, regardless of their goaltending.