NASHVILLE | Protect your advances. Although it is as obvious as the truth of The Palice, it is not an innate concept. Just like walking, running and speaking French – as Pierre Gauthier told us in a moralizing tone from another time – these can be learned.
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This is where the Canadian players seem to be on a collective level. Martin St-Louis is right when he says his team is in the game a lot more than last season.
The varlopes are becoming increasingly rare. Only she stupidly misses out on ranking points because she fails to put the final nail in her opponents' coffins.
Getty Images via AFP
35 times this season the Habs have been involved in a game where the result was decided by a one-goal margin. He suffered defeat 20 times, including ten times in tiebreakers. That's more than any other of the 31 teams in the NHL.
Of those 20 losses, the Montrealers lost a lead 12 times. Six times they even had a two-goal lead at one point in the game. Furthermore, this was the case on Saturday in Tampa.
Too much nervousness
A worrying statistic, but one that could be even worse. Of the 15 games the Canadian won by a one-goal lead, five were after blowing a two-goal lead (twice he even blew a three-goal lead).
The Canadian lost the lead by two or more goals thirteen times. We're talking about 21% of games. It's enormous.
It's huge, but it's the reality of young teams. And every opportunity sows additional doubt in the minds of players. A little pressure from the opponent is enough to bring back a feeling of panic.
“We’re a little nervous in situations like this,” Kaiden Guhle admitted to reporters on site in Tampa. Learning to win, learning to play with an edge, that’s what we have to do.”
“And we're trying, it's not that we're not trying,” he added. Once we get this under control, I think we’ll be fine.”
Worst in the NHL
To achieve this goal, the Canadian must avoid shooting himself in the foot by giving his rivals opportunities that would normally be his. Such as shorthanded goals.
The Canadian allowed his opponents to score eleven times while he had a power play himself. No team has performed worse in the Bettman circuit this season. That's quite a contrast from last year when he allowed…three.
The Canadian lost nine of the ten games in which this occurred (he conceded two goals against the Wild on October 17).
It also happened on Thursday in Sunrise and on Saturday in Tampa. Either way, that goal allowed the Panthers and Lightning to push the game into a tiebreaker.
In each of these cases, it was a break in play at the opposing blue line that led to this goal. Should the men from St. Louis learn to watch the clock and not risk those late-game turnovers?
In any case, this type of goal allowed is certainly another nuisance that the Habs need to correct in order to get to the next level.
He will have the chance to remedy the situation on Tuesday in Nashville.