A Winning Habit
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Montreal Canadiens: Kirk Muller has nothing to apologize to the Flyers for

By Omar L

TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 14: Head Coach Alain Vigneault (top center) of the Philadelphia Flyers reacts after Jesperi Kotkaniemi (not pictured) #15 of the Montreal Canadiens scored the fifth goal on the Philadelphia Flyers during the third period in Game Two of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 14, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 14: Head Coach Alain Vigneault (top center) of the Philadelphia Flyers reacts after Jesperi Kotkaniemi (not pictured) #15 of the Montreal Canadiens scored the fifth goal on the Philadelphia Flyers during the third period in Game Two of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 14, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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Montreal Canadiens, Kirk Muller
TORONTO, ONTARIO – AUGUST 14: Kirk Muller Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

The Habs man advantage fired at 17.7% in the regular season, which was 22nd in the league. They were only better than teams who were either horribly bad (Senators and Red Wings) or teams who chronically struggled to score (Blue Jackets Islanders).

Before Game 2 against the Philadelphia Flyers, Montreal only had 1 goal on 13 opportunities. That’s a 7.7% success rate.

In fact, they didn’t capitalize on the power play until Weber’s goal in Game 1 during the second period! So I don’t think it’s a justifiable assumption to say the Habs PP was coming for blood in those final two minutes.

It definitely was a means of getting legitimate practice in. Hockey analysts always say working on special teams in practice can never duplicate the urgency of real situations that can be found in-game. Muller saw a window to do that for the Habs. It wasn’t to embarrass anyone or run up the scoreboard, it was to help the team improve.

On the other hand, say it was to run up the scoreboard. So what?

The Montreal Canadiens need all they can get as they walked into this serious as the clear underdog once again. Confidence is key in situations like this, and if producing on the power play is what the team needs to keep this going, Muller has every right to do so.

This isn’t a team that had an incredible regular season who was built to contend for a Stanley Cup. This was a team that sold at the Trade Deadline, are forced to rely on their goaltending at times, and have everything to prove each time they step on the ice.

Welcome to the competitive league. 

Many are going to say that now the Philadelphia Flyers have more motivation to come out swinging in Game 3 as their “embarrassment” will be used as fuel to win. Well, the Montreal Canadiens definitely got a boost from that win.

Next. Habs-Flyers championship trends. dark

Muller has nothing to apologize for and nothing to rationalize for the Flyers. He’s doing his job as head coach of this team.

Acknowledgements: Advanced stats from Natural Stat Trick, power play stats from NHL.com.

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