When the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lighting have what seems like an inevitable rematch in the first, or maybe even second round of the playoffs this year, it is going to be a fantastic series. Undoubtedly significantly better than what the two offered Monday night at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. The 7-1 win for the Lightning demonstrates very little about the abilities of both of these teams going forward.
What it does give a glimpse at is that results have overshadowed what has actually been a fairly concerning start to the season for the Canadiens. 3-0 to start the year and first in the league meant very few were focusing on the negative elements hidden below the surface. Reading too much into anything this early in the season is dangerous, almost as dangerous as it is to ignore it altogether.
For one, the Tampa Bay Lightning are by far the best opponent the Canadiens have faced so far. The first three games were against three teams who are on the playoffs bubble, two of whom who will probably not participate. I’ll let you fill in those blanks as you please. Tampa will be there and could even go as far as the Conference Finals if the stars align.
The shortcomings of the Canadiens were almost as evident in their victories as they were in this horrendous loss, they just didn’t cost them nearly as much. The Flyers game could well have gone the same direction if it wasn’t for one line.
Montreal’s offense so far this year has almost exclusively resulted from Tomas Plekanec, Alex Galchenyuk and the lucky soul chosen to play alongside them. Plekanec has been the main source, as his 4 goals and an assist represent an incredible start to the season. The team’s other forwards only account for two goals.
The team largely got by despite their offense last season but were ultimately okay because they had four lines capable of offense who could be a threat at any time. This year, the supposed top line has been nowhere to be seen, at least since the early stages of the games against the Leafs. The third line has struggled even more as Lars Eller, Jiri Sekac and Rene Bourque have had all slow starts to the season.
A large part of this is a nasty habit that tends to grip this team from time to time: being fancy in front of the goal. The prime example of this has always been David Desharnais, who simply needs to be more selfish in front of the net, but others have fallen victim of it as well.
This is especially true for a powerplay that has been nothing short of dismal so far this year. This is a trend that dates all the way back to around the midway point of last season. Montreal’s powerplay tends to only serve one purpose at the present: set up a P.K. Subban point shot. The play is so obvious that even Subban has stopped shooting when he has the chance.
It has been more than enough time for the coaching staff to realize that simply trotting out the team’s lines as powerplay units isn’t very effective. Max Pacioretty, David Desharnais and Brendan Gallagher are a very solid line 5-on-5, but miserably ineffective on the powerplay. Now make a hybrid line with a least one of the Plekanec/Galchenyuk combo and the Canadiens are significantly more dangerous on the powerplay.
It hasn’t been exclusively the offense that has been the problem, either. As aforementioned, the Canadiens won last year despite their lack of scoring. That was down to good team defense, and even better goaltending. Neither of those have been present this season.
To call out Carey Price this early would be more than a little ridiculous, especially considering the fact that he has similarly poor stats as Jonathan Quick and Henrik Lundqvist have had so far. What has been concerning, however, is how the team looks when Price isn’t playing at his sharpest. Particularly the impression it leaves on the defense.
This was always going to be the case for a defensive group that has a lot of players adjusting to play new roles. It certainly doesn’t help that those roles have already changed with Alexei Emelin going down with injury. But the main source of worry has come from a place where it would probably be least expected: the top pairing of Subban and Andrei Markov.
As a powerplay pairing, these two are fine, better than fine in fact. But five-on-five, both require an anchor defenseman as their partner in order to play their offensive brand of hockey. In his prime, Markov probably could have done both, but has certainly lost a step in the past couple of years. The pairing got victimized time and time again against the Lightning.
Some of these problems are going to solve themselves on their own, as the Canadiens have too much talent in their roster for Monday’s occurrence to happen with regularity. But if they want to develop as a team, and truly be considered amongst the league’s elite, solutions have to be formulated.
Montreal has been presented a perfect opportunity to rebound in a very meaningful game coming up on Thursday: their home opener against the Boston Bruins. Both teams will come into the game with wounded egos; the Bruins have gone 1-3 to start the season and will certainly be looking for revenge for last year’s playoffs. The result, after the Canadiens have had some time to make changes, will be telling.
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