Montreal Canadiens Show Defensive Zone Faceoffs are an Issue Despite Win

The Montreal Canadiens won last night’s game 3-2 against the Vegas Golden Knights, and are now headed home with the series tied 1-1.

Jeff Petry was back (with some scary bloodshot eyes) and was a big help to the team, just like he always is. Shea Weber was also spectacular, despite what seemed like an injured hand. He blocked many shots, was moving, and even got to the front of the Vegas net at some point, and I don’t expect anything less from him in Game 3.

And, of course, Carey Price was Carey Price, there is no better explanation to this. He stole the show again, making some incredible saves and being there to catch his teammates’ mistakes, and his own – that accidental pass to Jonathan Marchessault was not a good idea, but he redeemed himself quickly after making a blocker save on his shot. Price’s reaction after his save told the whole story, flashing an “oops… at least I stopped it” smile.

The Canadiens played a strong first period with 12 shots on goal, as opposed to the Golden Knights’ four. However, the Knights dominated most of the other two periods, getting 10 and 17 shots in the second and third periods, compared to the Canadiens’ four and seven.

Joel Armia opened the scoring at the six-minute mark in the first period, and if you’ve been watching the Habs, you might know that they like having the lead, now having won eight out of nine games in which they scored first this postseason.

Next was Tyler Toffoli’s one-timer from Cole Caufield’s no-look pass that completely fooled Marc-André Fleury into thinking Caufield would be the one to shoot it.

As good as the entire team played last night, this now first-line will keep on amazing me. Their chemistry keeps getting stronger, they’re playing so connected together, and it’s extremely fun to watch.

Later, in the second period, Paul Byron gave the Canadiens a 3-0 lead, from a goal that looked a lot like his shorthanded one in Game 1 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. As the puck was going into the Knights’ zone, Josh Anderson was able to keep William Carrier away from it, which then allowed Byron to speed off towards it and score a backhanded goal before Keegan Kolesar could reach him.

That’s when the scoring stopped for the Canadiens, and started for the Knights, with something that is becoming too familiar in this series – faceoff goals.

Both of the Knights’ goals were right off the faceoff in the Canadiens’ zone, and both were scored by Alex Pietrangelo. Now, I’m not sure what the solution would be, either to try not to ice the puck as much, or to win defensive zone faceoffs more, but these types of goals need to stop. In most cases, Price can’t even see the puck to stop it, so maybe it would be as easy as a different placement for Canadiens’ players. But, whatever it is, they need to find a solution, because four faceoff goals in two games are way too many for my liking, and probably the team too.

I’ve said it and will keep saying it until it’s not true, but if it weren’t for Price, the Knights might have tied the game and forced overtime, giving them more time to win the game.

We’ve seen the Canadiens do what they did tonight many times in these playoffs – play offensively, get a few goals or at least a good lead, then play defensively and prevent the opposing team from scoring. It seemed to work last night, until those two goals by Pietrangelo.

They need to work on this, or it could be a big weakness and issue for them later on in the series. The Knights already know it’s one of their weakness, and they will keep taking advantage of it until the Canadiens can show them it’s not.

Despite having won the game last night, it has revealed a real weakness for them, something they have to fix sooner rather than later if they want to make it further in this series.