Milan Michalek had the puck on his backhand, and all he had to do was lift it over the outstretched pad of Carey Price to give the Ottawa Senators a 2-1 lead. Instead, he pulled the puck back across to his forehand and it was ultimately stopped by Price.
It should have been a fairly easy goal to turn the tide of Game 2, instead it was as if he had seen a ghost. Maybe he had, because ghosts or not Carey Price is haunting the Ottawa Senators out of the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs.
The fact is, the Senators aren’t shooting as much, and when they are those shots are being overthought and as a result often end up being poorly executed. The Michalek example is just one of many where a player tried to make a perfect play to beat Price instead of just throwing it on net.
So far in the series Ottawa has been outshot 130-98, and the Canadiens lead in shot attempts as well. This is despite the fact that they have had 53% of the series offensive zone starts.
To have less shot attempts than an opponent for three straight games has been rare for the Ottawa Senators as of late. They had a 53.6 per cent regular season Corsi rating despite being outside of a playoff position for most of the year.
One of the ways one might try to quantify this decline is powerplay time. However, the 11 more powerplay minutes the Canadiens have than the Senators doesn’t fully explain the 32 shot difference. It explains the shot attempts even less: powerplay shot attempts aren’t counted.
The real reason for their recent difficulty in driving possession isn’t exclusively Price. In fact the Canadiens goaltender hasn’t been a major storyline in these playoffs so far, instead replaced by PK Subban, Brendan Gallagher and Dale Wiese.
However, despite flying under the radar for once, Price’s role in the Canadiens 3-0 series lead has still been substantial. Just how far he has gotten into the heads of Senators shooters can be seen by where they are taking the vast majority of their shots.
As the series has continued, and especially in Game 3, the Senators took the majority of their shot attempts from the slot area, almost neglecting to shoot outside. They are looking for that perfect shot to beat Price, playing quality over quantity.
It isn’t working, while the Senators neglect to shoot from the areas outside of the slot the Canadiens have used that area quite effectively. Both Canadiens overtime winners have come from outside of the slot, as did a PK Subban slapshot goal in Game 2.
The thing is, Price can be beat from outside of the slot, in fact he can and has been beat from anywhere all season long just like any other goalie in the league. In Game 1, when the Senators weren’t living in fear, they were able to score three goals. They have only gone backwards from there.
Looking at the shots that have beat Price these playoffs, there hasn’t really been a book or a spot. He has been beaten just about everywhere. Clarke MacArthur has been the best Ottawa scorer in this series so far. Why? Because he is shooting the puck from everywhere. Neither of his goals were anything special, in fact quite the opposite.
In fairness Price has been doing this all season, and not just to the Senators. One of the things about the best goalies in the world is they are able to build a mental edge over the shooters. However, Ottawa has had more time to study Price than any other team, and have studied all of his flaws.
If Ottawa want any legs left to stand on in this series they need to start shooting the puck, and they need to do it whenever and wherever they get the chance to do so. With their backs now firmly against the wall they may finally understand this, even if it’s just subconsciously.
Otherwise, without even finding himself in the three stars one-time, Carey Price will have scared the resilient Ottawa Senators out of the playoffs.
