Prior to their productivity spike in the middle of the season, the Canadiens didn’t appear to be a serious contender for the playoffs. Since then, they have returned to reality.
It would be exciting for the fans to watch, as the Canadiens have already demonstrated that they can at least pretend to be playoff contenders in 2024–25. Even while they occasionally defeat teams they should defeat, we can identify a few offenders as the reason why the flame has subsequently gone out.
Indeed, the club needs to play better hockey overall, but they will start winning games more frequently or at least bringing them back to life if they can improve in three different stat lines. No, they might not be able to crack a wild card with it alone, but if they do, we can call this season successful.
1: Converting high-danger chances
The Canadiens, and you’ll see me say this a few times, have been horrific defensively, and it shows in their overall goals allowed. While you ideally want to see them improve when they don’t have the puck, a good way to start winning games again is to take advantage of your chances.
And for the most part, the Habs do just that, with a 20.63 success rate on the man advantage. They also have 158 goals, which is a solid 15th in the NHL before Thursday’s slate of games. That said, they’re not converting high-danger chances, nor are they getting enough of them.
So far this season, the Habs created just 379 and converted 6.9 percent of them. That’s adding less than ideal to less than ideal. Unless the Canadiens fix their issues defensively, they need to connect more on the high-danger chances that they create and find ways to force more of them.
2: Keeping the puck in the offensive zone
Later, you’re going to find out just how vulnerable the Canadiens are when their opponent has the puck. And if there’s one way to keep opponents from scoring is to stop giving them so many chances to score, something the Habs aren’t adept at.
Their Corsi For, if you want an example, sits at 48.8 percent, and their overall Corsi For in shots, blocks, and misses is 2,416, over 130 below the NHL average. For the Canadiens, creating more scoring opportunities and getting rebounds is a good way to control the puck more in the offensive zone and keep opponents clamoring for it.
It wouldn’t stop all their breakdowns defensively and in the crease, but getting more aggressive in the offensive zone would be a great place to begin.
3: Allowing way too many goals
This one may sound rather basic, but sometimes basic defines the way a team has fared recently, and that’s true for the Canadiens. Their 0.904 save percentage at 5-on-5 is well below the NHL average, as is their 0.885 save percentage in all situations.
The Habs are allowing nearly one more shot on goal per game than the rest of the league, again when you take averages. And it’s led to the Canadiens watching 129 goals go into their own net at 5-on-5, 24 more than the average. Overall, they’ve allowed 183 goals, which is 23 more than what the entire league’s averaged.
All things considered, the Canadiens must figure out a way to cut down on goals if they hope to at least provide their supporters with more to watch than player development during the last two months of the season.
