Montreal Canadiens-Winnipeg Jets Series Will Be Won In Front of the Net

It is Carey Price versus Connor Hellebuyck. The rest of the Montreal Canadiens and Winnipeg Jets seem kind of superfluous, don’t they? The team that wins will be because of the goalie.

Price and Hellebuyck both had spectacular first rounds. Hellebuyck had the better numbers but had an easier first round. It wasn’t a walk in the park, but he had fewer games, which helps his incredible numbers.

Price was hung out to dry at times in the series against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Particularly in the overtime of Game 6, where the Toronto Maple Leafs outshot the Montreal Canadiens 13-2 in a game where Montreal had to win. Now, the chances were not all particularly great scoring chances, but Price was calm and caught a lot of pucks like they were nothing.

So, how do you beat an unbeatable goaltender? It’s a question that both Dominique Ducharme and Paul Maurice must ask themselves and plan for in this series.

There are two ways to score on a goalie that cannot be beaten, and both entail the same thing.

First, they cannot stop what they cannot see. Getting bodies in front of the net will get goals in the net. Either the goalie won’t be able to see the puck, or it will be deflected and will be impossible to stop. No matter how good they are, the human body has its limits, and reflexes are only so fast.

Think on ‘S’Corey Perry’s goal in Game 7 against Toronto. It was a powerplay, Nick Suzuki had the puck on the half-wall, and Perry was planted in front of Jack Campbell. Suzuki’s shot went off of Perry’s inner leg and went in. Even if Perry never touched the puck, it may have still went in, as it was clear that Campbell didn’t see that shot at all.

There is another way to score against a red hot goaltender, and that is a good ole scrum goal. A big scramble in front of the net where the puck is. Where? No one knows. Eventually, the defence either clears the puck from the front of the net, or the offence puts the puck in the net. It’s a crapshoot, a coin flip, but it levels the playing field against a stellar goaltender.

For a perfect example of this, we must visit good old ‘S’Corey Perry once again. The first goal in Game 6 was another powerplay goal from Power Perry. Cole Caufield took a shot from a cross-rink pass that Campbell couldn’t handle, and everyone collapsed in front of the net. A scrum ensued, which ended when the puck came out to Perry, who was on the opposite side of the net, and all he had to do was tap it in.

The problem with scrum goals as of late is the propensity of goaltender interference calls and the lack of clarity around what is interference and what isn’t. That Perry goal was challenged but upheld. And it wasn’t the only scrum goal that Montreal scored, just look at two of the three goals scored by Jesperi Kotkaniemi.

This is where Montreal’s big defencemen come in. Shea Weber is the Man-Mountain. 6’4, 229 pounds, who thrives when the refs swallow the whistles and can throw his body around with reckless abandon in front of the net. Ben Chiarot is no slouch either, 6’3, 234 pounds and not afraid to play physically.

Jeff Petry is not the biggest specimen, but plays smart and responsible, and is paired with the physical defensive defenceman Joel Edmundson. Brett Kulak is over 6′ tall, and Erik Gustafsson is out there just for offence. But those two were hardly used late in the series, playing less than 10 minutes.

Montreal’s big defence should be able to clear the net-front but will have their hands full with Winnipeg’s skilled and deep forward core. They have the ultimate insurance in goal with Carey Price, but so does Winnipeg in Connor Hellebuyck. This series will be a close one, but the team that gets in the goal front and under the opponent’s goaltender’s skin should be the winner. It should be a fun series.