On Friday night the Montreal Canadiens hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning for Game 6 of their first round series. Going into the game, the Habs led the series 3-2 and were in a position to eliminate the Bolts. The result was a heartbreaking 1-0 overtime loss.
Here’s what caught my eye.
The Canadiens came ready for this one.
How many games this season did we complain about the Habs starting games late? It’s not been an issue in this series and it certainly wasn’t in this game. They were hitting everything in sight, getting back on D, and generating solid chances.
Truth be told, they played well enough to win. But the guy in the other net came ready too.
Caufield and Suzuki are starting to figure it out.
It was a much better night for the duo. Caufield could have buried a couple and the series would have been over. At even strength they were creating chances and there were a few near misses. They’ve got one more game to come up clutch.
The series should have ended on the OT power play.
The talent on the first wave should be producing differently than they are. First game of the series excepted, they have not been good. Why does Caufield need a telescope to see the net? Why is Demidov bobbling passes to no one in particular? Why are shots so easy for the goalie to see?
Kucherov did them the favour of being Kucherov in the overtime and they could not capitalize. They’re trying to be cute when they should be going for a little ugly.
I have a question about how the Habs D are positioned…
The play that ended the game was a tough one. Guhle found himself unexpectedly in what amounted to a two-on-one and everyone was tired. The correct play is for the defender to eliminate the option of a pass and let the goalie face the shooter. That’s easy to say after the fact in that situation. I’m not sure it even registered for Guhle that he was last man standing.
Guhle didn’t take the shooter to eliminate the pass option. He tried to intercept the pass, when he should have been tying up the potential recipient. When that failed, Goncalves was wide open. But that’s just one play.
I have noticed the Habs D-men are fairly routinely between their man and the puck. The forward is behind the defender and if the pass isn’t intercepted the forward has no one but the goalie to beat. Watch for it. It’s been making me crazy.
Is this part of the system? Is it supposed to be strategic? Or is the issue missed assignments?
All that said, the Habs played an excellent game and the teams couldn’t be more evenly matched. Game 7 could go either way. Go Habs Go!
Hab At Her 