The Montreal Canadiens Need to Be Their Defensive Selves to Win Game 5

The Montreal Canadiens will be facing the Toronto Maple Leafs for the fifth time of the series tonight.

If the Montreal Canadiens can win tonight’s game and force a Game 6 in Montreal, that would allow them to have up to 2,500 fans at the Bell Centre on Saturday night. Now, that would be a huge difference-maker.

Of course, just like the previous three games, the Habs have said they would be doing their best to win games. After all, what team doesn’t want to win?

Unfortunately, things haven’t gone their way and the Leafs have taken these wins to lead the series 3-1, and could possibly take another win tonight and end the Canadiens’ playoff run.

What could The Montreal Canadiens Do to Win Game 5?

Their offence has been their biggest struggle this series, as they only managed to score four goals in four games. So I think keeping things simple would be the safest bet.

Just like we saw when the Leafs struggled on their powerplay during the second half of the season, teams start overthinking and overcomplicating things when they can’t score. The Leafs would pass the puck way too much instead of shooting it towards the net, and now it looks like the same is happening to the Habs, but not just on their powerplay.

Although, it’s important to point out that they managed to outshoot the Leafs in Game 4, but they were still not able to capitalize, which ultimately cost them the game.

However, if they stick to their defensive play and make sure to shut down the Leafs’ hot players, that would prevent them from generating high danger chances, which seems to happen a lot.

Maybe, then, the scoring might get a bit easier, or at least, a bit less overwhelming. If there are no goals to make up for, then there is more hope and a higher chance of winning the game with fewer goals. Now, I know, this is not ideal at all. But, if the Canadiens can manage to defend in their own zone and make the Leafs’ entries and lives more difficult, it would be a start.

Toronto is a fast team, and if Montreal can’t manage to match their speed for an entire 60 minutes, then they have to, at least, be ready to get back into their zone to defend. But when the defence is too involved trying to make plays and losing the puck, that becomes difficult to do. After all, Carey Price can’t do everything on his own.

That leads us, of course, to Price. The Canadiens will need him to be at his best, which is exactly what he has been for them, every single night.

As well, if there is anything we know about the Habs, is that they like to show up for the big games, so I wouldn’t count them out just yet.

Players to watch out for tonight will be Tyler Toffoli, Brendan Gallagher, and Cole Caufield, who have all been getting good chances but just haven’t been able to capitalize. So, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them step up and get on the scoreboard tonight.