Intelligent Hockey: Habs face overwhelming challenge versus Golden Knights. MORE:
It’s never too late to rewrite your story. After committing an unfortunate penalty in overtime of Game 2, right wing Reilly Smith amended his narrative, spearheading an offensive explosion for his line that led to four consecutive wins for the Vegas Golden Knights. Similarly, the Montreal Canadiens went 7-9-2 in the last month of the regular season, and on May 26th were facing elimination, trailing the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1. Now they are one of the four teams left.
And yet, the Golden Knights finished the series outshooting the Avalanche at 5-on-5 and accruing vastly better expected goals and high-danger chances. Vegas’s staggering metrics against Colorado, the playoff favourite to win the Stanley Cup, begins with elite puck management. But one thing Montreal has that Colorado didn’t have is an unassailably great shutdown line. One would assume Montreal coach Dominique Ducharme will be falling over himself trying to match the Phillip Danault line against one of the top-six Vegas lines. It will be harder to get matchups in Vegas since they don’t have last change, but Danault’s line has been masterful at squashing top scorers from the North Division.
Hockey polymaths, the Golden Knights are proficient at everything, uniquely capable at adapting to their environment. But that also understates how they shape their milieu. The Golden Knights practise strategies to protect the puck and keep opponents hemmed in their own end in the second period so they are stranded during the period of the long change. Or they will turn the tables on their enemy, like on forward Mark Stone’s game-winner from Game 5.
Is the Canadiens’ only path to victory via playing with a lead and winning low-scoring games? Can they win if they trail early in the contest? The Avalanche passed up some great looks against Vegas by trying to make the cross-seam pass or find a shooter in the slot. It is doubtful the Canadiens will make that error. They will fire pucks from everywhere. They are going to look to attack from behind the net and off the goal line.
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