The line the Montreal Canadiens must watch out for against Pittsburgh
With the Montreal Canadiens playing the Pittsburgh Penguins, the focus has been put on Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but another line could be a pain.
When you think of the Pittsburgh Penguins, you automatically think of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. Similarly, when you think of the Montreal Canadiens, the likes of Carey Price, Brendan Gallagher and Shea Weber come to mind.
Claude Julien has likely been favouring his analysis on those top two lines, which will be getting the majority of the minutes and generating the most offence. Especially with Jake Guentzel and Conor Sheary being reunited with Crosby, who they’ve both put up incredible numbers with. The focus has to be finding a way to contain them at 5v5 and limit their chances, but I also feel being more chaotic in the offensive zone should be a favourable mindset.
However, there is one other line the Montreal Canadiens need to be worried about, and it’s not one most teams concern themselves with. And that is their fourth line of Teddy Blueger, Zach Aston-Reese and Brandon Tanev.
Rewind the clock to the early 2000s, and this is a ridiculous take. Fourth lines were only put together for those energy shifts either laying big hits or dropping the gloves when things get sombre for their club. That philosophy has changed in today’s NHL as these lines have become contributors to contending teams, often getting special team responsibilities or having defensive roles.
Offensively, their numbers are what you’d expect. Tanev was the highest point-getter of the three with 11 goals and 14 assists for 25 points in 68 games. Blueger and Aston-Reese had respective 22 and 13-point years. But their scoring isn’t the most important thing here.
The trio has played 47 games together (426.5 total minutes) and became one of the best shutdown lines in the league. Their line is top-five in expected goals against per 60 at 1.46 (via MoneyPuck). The other four lines ahead of them are the Casey Cizikas lines from the New York Islanders, the Jordan Staal line in Carolina and the Joel Eriksson Ek line in Minnesota.
The difference, however, is that neither of those four lines played as many minutes together as Tanev-Blueger-Aston-Reese. With sample size in mind, they get the edge as being the best defensive line in hockey.
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They don’t generate much offence actual scoring, but they generate a lot of chances and prevent a lot more, which is what you would expect to see from a line such as this. It’s also important to notice that Aston-Reese and his physical play is a key contributor. Without him, the line’s offensive generation plummets.
Additionally, it’s not as if they’re getting lucky here. Their PDO of 0.999 at 5v5 suggests they’re exactly where they’re meant to be (via Natural Stat Trick). That’s all without being sheltered in the slightest as Mike Sullivan trusts them with hard assignments.
Claude Julien has to keep them in mind when planning.
If he wants to match fourth line for fourth line, then that would see Jake Evans, Jordan Weal and Dale Weise going up against them. This trio has barely played any games together, but Evans has considerable experience with Weise playing a total of 59 minutes with him. Unfortunately, they were leakier when paired together with below 50% ratings in Corsi-for but generated a decent amount of scoring chances.
There could be problems if Sullivan chooses to match his fourth line against Paul Byron–Jesperi Kotkaniemi–Artturi Lehkonen. The Habs’ third line has speed in their favour, but the Blueger line has taken on some of the better lines in the NHL.
Byron-Kotkaniemi-Lehkonen also doesn’t have much experience playing together as a unit. Kotkaniemi has played more with Lehkonen, and as you’d expect, they create shots and scoring chances at 5v5 with little goal scoring.
The Montreal Canadiens need their third-line to get going though. They can’t expect Phillip Danault and Nick Suzuki to drive offence while facing off against Crosby and Malkin. As much as the chaotic factor is a weapon for the team, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them back off and not want to give Pittsburgh space giving up their offence to focus on their defence in the process.
If so, the bottom-six is going to be key, but that’s going to be a huge problem with Tanev-Blueger-Aston-Reese skating around out there. Max Domi could be a difference-maker if he’s eligible to play and gets a spot on the third-line. With him on the ice, that line may be able to see more of their scoring chances turn into actual goals that the Montreal Canadiens can use as an incentive to shut things down later into regulation time.
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Who knows, though. This series against the Pittsburgh Penguins is going to be a serious game of chess. And one that could show how good or bad of a coach Claude Julien really is.