When the Montreal Canadiens dropped an ugly 6-2 decision to the Ottawa Senators last Thursday, it was a poor effort from pillar to post. Presented with an opportunity to avenge that loss on Tuesday night, they needed to put forth a significantly better effort to have a shot. They needed to play the clichéd full 60, something they’ve not been able to do for a while now.
They did put forth a better effort, but unfortunately not until after they’d done enough damage with an atrocious first half of the game.
In the second and third periods, the Habs share of expected goals-for at five-on-five were 73.22% and 64.33% respectively. In the first period? A paltry 5.1%. They turned their effort on somewhat quickly after the third Senators goal, but it was too little, too late, as their expected-goals dominance didn’t come until the Senators had scored enough actual ones.
Cole Caufield came within an inch or two of scoring on three separate chances, and could have single-handedly drawn his team back into the game. Alas, therein lies one of the biggest problems with this current roster; in most games, they can’t score enough to win, much less overcome early deficits, if Caufield and Nick Suzuki aren’t the ones filling the net. If they had consistent secondary scoring, maybe they’d have been able to really mount a comeback last night.
Of course, they wouldn’t have needed to try, had they simply shown up for the opening period. It is an extremely troubling trend with this team, where even in their better games, they don’t seem to have three periods in them. They can generally get themselves going for 30 to 40 minutes, but the rest of the game tilts the ice so significantly in their opponents’ favour, they need epic performances from their goaltenders to have a fighting chance.
The “full 60” may be one of the biggest clichés in hockey, but most Habs fans would love to see a real one some time.
Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available wherever you get your podcasts. We’ll be back this Thursday night, following the New York Islanders’ visit to the Bell Centre.
