The Canadian | The numerical advantage in the blind spot

(Edmonton) Since Martin St-Louis became the head coach of the Canadiens on February 9, just about everything that went wrong has gotten better.

Simon Olivier Lorange
The Press

The forwards woke up, the defenders pulled together, the goaltenders stopped pucks. Everyone loves each other unconditionally and is living their best life.

One phase of the game, however, is impervious to the runoff of ambient happiness: the numerical advantage.

It is, by far, the Habs’ worst lapse in 10 games – St. Louis’ first 10 behind an NHL bench. When Dominique Ducharme was fired, the team was languishing at 31^and ranks in the league in this regard with a success rate of 13.6%. In what is now known as the “St-Louis era,” the Montrealers lost five percentage points (8.6%) by converting only three of their last 35 chances.

Not only do we score very little, but we don’t threaten much either. Almost all the indicators to measure the level of attack place the CH in the last quarter of the league.

It’s obvious that trading Tyler Toffoli while veterans like Christian Dvorak and Jonathan Drouin are still on the injured list doesn’t leave a lot of ammunition for the coaching staff, especially power-play manager Alex Burrows.

During a press briefing in Edmonton on Friday, the eve of his team’s matchup against the Oilers, Martin St-Louis admitted that the power play had not been his “biggest concern” in his arrival in Montreal. Instead, he focused his attention and energy on the five-on-five game, with evident success, admittedly.

“I would like it to be much better, but when you are able to win games and your numerical advantage has not been there, it is always a good sign”, he estimated.

The Canadiens have scored just three goals in 10 games with at least one more man, but two of those successes have come in the last two games, in Winnipeg and Calgary. This is what makes the coach say that his players are more and more “comfortable” and that they are developing an “identity” on the five-man attack.

“I think we can continue to develop this identity and improve what we want to do,” he said.

We cannot qualify this “identity” enough yet, but we nevertheless raise three experiments that have been attempted recently.

Petry or Chiarot? Or both ?

As has become the norm for a few years already in the NHL, the Canadian advocates a power play with four attackers, at least on the first wave. No need to look far for the number one designated defenseman: Chris Wideman has the most ice time eight times in 10 games. After him, we are still looking for the right candidate. The obvious choice, given his offensive profile, would be Jeff Petry However, he only played 40 seconds on the power play Thursday in Calgary, almost two minutes less than Ben Chiarot. The two veterans tend to alternate, though they’ve both been used against Wideman in Ottawa and Winnipeg over the past week. On this subject, St-Louis indicated that he was looking for the optimal management of the ice time of Chiarot and Petry who, he recalled, “play a lot of minutes”. Note also that Kale Clague played a little over two minutes with an extra man on Thursday, but the Canadian did not get a shot that reached the net in his presence. To rework.

Five forwards

In Calgary on Thursday, we witnessed a new strategy, that of deploying five attackers at five against three: Cole Caufield and Mike Hoffman in the upper zone as well as Nick Suzuki, Brendan Gallagher and Rem Pitlick near the net. The quintet drew a blank on their first opportunity, but were able to recover on Nick Suzuki’s goal in the second period. After the game, the latter pointed out that we had been preparing this special formation for quite a while already, but that no double power play had presented itself – which is correct. Thursday night, St. Louis said he was “not afraid to put offensive players five against three.” “Whether it’s a defender or a striker, we make the decision with the information and the feeling we have. It gives us the best chances to score. »

Evans and Lehkonen, yes; Dolphin, no

We’ve already mentioned it, but in the current state of training, the options are not endless to compose combinations of five players. Thus, Ryan Poehling never skips his turn again, just like Rem Pitlick, who seems to be in the good graces of St. Louis. Mathieu Perreault kept his specialist status that he had in Winnipeg. Artturi Lehkonen, he has taken the lead. Long banned from this phase of the game, here he is regularly. Even Jake Evans, arguably the most labeled “defensive” forward in the Habs, had his chance in Calgary before getting injured. The only one still waiting is Laurent Dauphin, who nevertheless pilots an attacking trio with Gallagher and Hoffman at five against five. As we do for Joel Armia, we prefer to preserve our forces to deal with punishments.

In short

Evans “day to day”

After appearing to be shaken by a shoulder bump and receiving a stick to the head, Jake Evans left Thursday’s game early. The team said he was nursing an “upper body” injury and his condition was being reassessed on a daily basis. We are assured that he did not have to submit to the concussion detection protocol. It seems certain that he will not play Saturday in Edmonton. Mathieu Perreault, left out in Calgary, will be added to the roster. Unless there is a surprise, Cédric Paquette will be left out for a 13^and straight game. Defender Joel Edmundson continues to move closer to a return to play, but that won’t be for Saturday.

Hammond injured, Primeau recalled

Another soldier fell in combat on Thursday. Andrew Hammond has suffered a “lower body” injury and his name has been added to the injured list, so he is expected to be out for at least a week. Samuel Montembeault will logically get the start against the Oilers, and Cayden Primeau has been recalled from the Laval Rocket. The youngster has struggled in the NHL this season, but has won three of his six starts since being demoted to the American League in mid-February. Meanwhile, Primeau’s recall has created a void in Laval, as the Canadiens traded Michael McNiven earlier this week. The Rocket has therefore offered a professional trial contract to Tristan Bérubé, who will be Kevin Poulin’s assistant until further notice.