The Montreal Canadiens are set to play a pivotal game on Wednesday night in Tampa Bay. The series is tied at two with the Lightning, and it seems they, players like Ivan Demidov, are still searching for answers. However, the answer might simply be that they need to generate more scoring chances.
On Tuesday after practice, Demidov was meeting with reporters and was asked what he could do differently to score more goals. "They have a pretty good goalie, so it is pretty hard to score with him. We should change something, but I don't so far exactly what," Demidov said.
While it is a very honest answer, it is also an answer that should have fans concerned. There is no question that the Lightning have a great goalie in Andrei Vasilevskiy, who was the Vezina Trophy runner-up last season and led the league in wins this season.
However, the Canadiens have had success at times this season against Vasilevskiy by scoring six goals in their final two regular season meetings and four in Game 1 of this series. He has been far from perfect and has had a save percentage above .900 only once through the first four games.
Montreal Canadiens face a steep 5v5 production drop against Tampa Bay Lightning
While Demidov might be at a loss for what they need to do, the answer is pretty simple in that they need to generate more scoring chances and more shots on goal, particularly in 5v5 situations. Through the first four games of this series, the Canadiens have generated only 50 scoring chances in 5v5 situations, including only six in Game 4, according to Natural Stat Trick.
The Corsi For % also paints a picture of the Canadiens not doing enough to control the flow of the game, with a 44.03% so far this series against the Lightning.
Both of these metrics are well below their regular season average, as they are averaging over eight fewer scoring chances per game, and their Corsi For % has dropped over four percentage points.
These struggles don't fall entirely on Demidov, and while he won't say it outright, the pressure is more on the Canadiens' top line. The trio of Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Juraj Slafkovsky has been unable to generate enough offense in 5v5 situations, and this is one of the reasons the Canadiens need to consider making bold line changes ahead of Game 5.
While the Lightning have a great goalie, this Canadiens offense has the potential to be one of the best in the league. The question is whether or not they can find the solution before it is too late in this series.
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