Given the stats, the Montreal Canadiens must pursue chaos over structure
By Omar L
Knowing Julien, he’s likely pushing for structure against the Pittsburgh Penguins. They’re a veteran team with a lot of championship experience and know how to grind their way to a win or light up the scoreboard. With that in mind, the Habs may be planning to play a more conservative style of hockey, one that doesn’t give up too many chances to lighten the load on Carey Price.
Unfortunately, Montreal Canadiens have seen the downpours of the strategy in the form of losses. During the Habs’ sets of losing-streaks, a handful of them had come in regulation losing by one goal. And generally, these would come via a battle back in the scoreboard that came up just short.
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When Montreal goes into the mindset of shutting things down right off the opening faceoff, they spend too much time worrying on focus such that if they end up in a deficit, there isn’t enough time to gain a lead or tie the game. They may be playing the right way, but they’re still losing hockey games.
Taking a more chaotic approach to this series may be a trump card the Montreal Canadiens may want to pursue instead.
The Habs were a top-five team this season in expected goals-for/60 at 2.47, the same as the Toronto Maple Leafs and better than the Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning. They were also a top-five team, third-best to be exact, in both regular scoring chances for/60 and high-danger scoring chances/60 (all this coming at 5v5).
They’re a chaotic team by nature, and you can get that sense by how they play in the offensive zone when on their game. It’s a relentless forecheck, and that top Danault line sets the tone while the others follow suit. However, when the Canadiens tried to give into their chaotic impulses and put more of an emphasis on offence, they’d get flamed not being able to keep up with the other team’s skill. “Loose hockey,” as some would call it.