A Winning Habit
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Montreal Canadiens: 7 Talking Points

By Sebastian High

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - JUNE 21: Cole Caufield (Photo by Kevin Light/Getty Images)
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - JUNE 21: Cole Caufield (Photo by Kevin Light/Getty Images) /
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TORONTO, ONTARIO – AUGUST 16: Jakub Voracek #93 of the Philadelphia Flyers is defended by Phillip Danault #24 and Paul Byron #41 of the Montreal Canadiens during the second period in Game Three of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 16, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ONTARIO – AUGUST 16: Jakub Voracek #93 of the Philadelphia Flyers is defended by Phillip Danault #24 and Paul Byron #41 of the Montreal Canadiens during the second period in Game Three of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 16, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

1. 3v3 Overtime

Two weeks ago, my #1 talking point focused on the Canadiens’ overtime struggles and their playing of defensive forwards like Phillip Danault, Paul Byron and Joel Armia being a deeply flawed 3v3 strategy. Since that piece was written, the Habs have played 9 games and lost two in overtime and one in the shootout while finally winning their first game beyond regulation in the shootout on Saturday, bringing their record beyond regulation to 1/10.

And it isn’t just that the bounces haven’t gone Montreal’s way in overtime, though that happened on a Petry chance vs Winnipeg on Wednesday and on Anderson’s breakaway vs Vancouver on Friday, the team has lacked coordination and skill at 3v3. A good portion of that is due to the deployment of checking forwards in a situation where skill dominates, but even when the Habs put their skilled playmakers and goalscorers on the ice, they hold back and cycle the puck in their own zone, seemingly trying to run down the clock.

Saturday’s overtime was easily the team’s best of the season and was still deeply flawed. There was a lot of uncertainty in the attacking zone and cycling back into the neutral zone when sustained offensive pressure would have been wise. Drouin had a phenomenal chance with 20 seconds remaining, he took advantage of his skill and the added space of 3v3 OT and nearly scored a highlight-reel goal. But then the puck went the other way and Corey Perry misread the play which led to a great chance for Brock Boeser. Still, the OT play and deployment were much-improved.

Marc-Antoine Godin and Arpon Basu of The Athletic wrote on Friday that the Habs should “embrace the chaos of OT” instead of trying to implement a system in a situation in which systems crumble, there is simply too much space for skilled players to work with for a defence-first approach to work, as has been manifested in the Habs’ OT record. I fully agree with them.

While the Habs do not have the most offensive firepower in the division, they have skilled playmakers like Drouin, Suzuki and Kotkaniemi that can really take advantage of the extra time and space of 3v3 and the Habs have three right-wingers with 11, 11 and 18 goals on the season respectively that can each put the puck in the net. The fact that none of these six dynamic players have routinely started OT ahead of Danault and Byron – who have a combined 4 goals on the season – boggles the mind.

On Saturday, however, Ducharme started OT with Kotkaniemi, Drouin and Petry, hopefully, he will stick with deploying offensively-gifted players at 3v3 from this point onward. Danault did also see ice time in OT on Saturday and had a very good scoring chance himself. Danault played a strong game and giving him 3v3 ice time due to merit is perfectly fine with me, Paul Byron, on the other hand, should not have touched the ice a single time in overtime this season. The habs have plenty of quick forwards with more skill and scoring ability.

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