There seems to be a feeling in a large part of the hockey community that more goals equals a better hockey game. Personally, I prefer goals to actually mean something, and don’t want to turn the game into basketball.
I don’t usually keep track of the percentage of shots that hit the net, but with 75 of 123 attempts hitting the net, and 13 goals going in during the last time these two teams met I think it’s fair to say that the defensive coverage was a little lax.
To me, the game was a bit of a shit show, and I didn’t find it very entertaining. Maybe this is partially some revisionist history on my part because the Canadiens lost the game, but I just don’t really find those games entertaining.
The Penguins series against Philadelphia last season? Hated it. It wasn’t good hockey. And I had no dog in that fight. Of course, no goals at all is even worse.
The Canadiens need to do a solid for their goaltender tonight though. They left Carey Price out high and dry against the Penguins last time around, allowing 31 scoring chances against in just over 60 minutes.
To be fair, Price didn’t do his team many favours either, allowing 7 goals is never something where you can look at your goaltender and say “Yeah, he gave us a chance to win”.
Then again, the Canadiens totally abandoned their system and brought the offensive powerhouse Penguins to overtime. The Penguins lost that series against the Flyers, and they may be missing both Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.
Maybe run and gun is a good idea for once?
