Canadiens-Leafs: A Goaltending & Special Teams Win…By Design?

December 26th, 2009 by Rocket All Habs Leave a reply »
Montreal 3 Toronto 2 OT (Air Canada Center) posted by Rocket
All Habs


The game statistics should no longer shock us. The Canadiens will be outshot in most games played. They rank 29th in the league in shots against. Only Florida is worse. The Habs are 28th in the NHL in shots for.

By giving up shots and taking few, the Habs will spend a disproportionate amount of time in their own end. It goes hand-in-hand that the Habs will heavily rely on their goaltenders to steal games for them. Both Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak have done so.

The Canadiens will take more penalties than their opponent. They rank 29th in the number of minor penalties. Philadelphia is the only team in the league that heads to the box more for two-minute infractions.

Given that the they spend so much time in the own end while five-on-five, the Habs will need effective special teams to win games. The Canadiens have the No. 1 power play in the league and are seventh in penalty killing.

If the game is time after regulation, the Habs have a very good chance to win the game. They have the best overtime/shootout record at 10-3.

It should ...

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