|
Game 1-Bruins vs. Habs, Keys to the Series |
|
|
|
|
|
We’re often reminded to leave the regular season behind, in light of its insignificance. If the regular season means absolutely nothing, then I suppose it’s reasonable to believe the Boston Bruins have as much pressure on them to succeed in the playoffs, as anyone else.
I’m not personally of the belief that the regular season has no importance. If you ask anyone previewing this series, they’ll tell you that Boston has to win game 1 to reverse a regular season trend that’s seen the Canadiens beat them 12 times in a row.
How about on the Canadiens side, where a team of “four, fourth lines” according to Guy Lafleur halfway through the year, has turned expectations upside down. Would you agree that there wasn’t much pressure for the Canadiens to make the playoffs because nobody in the press said they would? Didn’t think you would…
These are the Stanley Cup playoffs. There is enough pressure on both sides of any series to put the fear of doubt into anyone. The Canadiens must now handle the pressure of being an overwhelming favorite as opposed to a left-for-dead dog. The Bruins face the pressure of overtaking ‘Goliath.’
*************
The Boston Bruins can spit as many quotes as they like about playing ultra disciplined and not getting into a run & gun game with the Canadiens. Like it or not, the speed of the Canadiens will force penalties, and if powerplays are capitalized on, catching up will necessitate run & gun.
Boston made a name for themselves with their defensive system this year. They prided themselves on surrendering more shots (albeit from the outside) and relied on Tim Thomas to save what he was expected to. They got opportunistic scoring from different guys who stepped up throughout their lineup in absence of their best players. This should sound similar to Montrealers, because with Claude Julien pulling the strings, the Boston Bruins are the same team Montreal was over the last 6 or 7 seasons.
That’s exactly why the Canadiens should take care to set the pace and tempo to this series. Let’s have a closer look at what both teams need to do in order to win:
Defensive Strategies:
The Bruins will start this series off in a 1-4 or 2-3 formation through the neutral zone. They’ll send 1 man in when the Canadiens stop up behind their own net, and revert straight to the 1-4. If the Canadiens refuse to stop the play behind their net, the 2-3 will be employed.
The Canadiens will set themselves up in a similar system with a harder forecheck. They adjust to what their opponent is doing. In this case, they will bait Boston into speeding up the play from the pace they intend to set, which means a hard forecheck when the play is fluid out of Boston’s zone. Once the puck stops behind the net, out comes the 1-4 for Carbonneau and his troops.
Inside the Box:
Strategies for scoring aren’t so different from the regular season to the post-season. The strategies themselves are just employed in a more intense fashion. Montreal will need to use their skill and speed, but just like Boston or any other team in the playoffs, they’ll score the majority of their goals from inside the box between the hash-marks of the faceoff circles.
For the Bruins this means getting in Carey Price’s way at every opportunity they have. You will certainly see a healthy dose of Shawn Thornton, David Krejci, Petteri Nokalainen, Jeremy Reich, and last, but certainly not least Milan Lucic, crashing the crease trying to create rebound opportunities for Marco Sturm, Marc Savard, Phil Kessel, and Chuck Kobasew. Boston has no choice but to run Price with every opportunity they get. If it means sitting out for two minutes here and there, they’ll have to pick their spots carefully and hope that the time spent in the box was worth the offense. In Basketball they always say if you’re going to foul someone, foul them hard. Well the Bruins would be wise to foul Carey Price hard if they are going to have to serve time for the crime.
On the other end of the ice, Montreal’s aggressive forecheck against a much slower-footed Boston defense will be essential to wearing down their defensive gameplan. The Canadiens cannot afford to pass up opportunities to finish checks. Watch the rookies carefully, you’ll often see one of them give somebody a free pass because they’re tired and they want to keep skating to stay in the play. This is something the coaching staff will have to acclimatize the young players to if Montreal hopes to be successful throughout these playoffs.
The veterans on the Habs need to employ a simple style of play. With the gifted puck-moving defense, and the skill up front, the Canadiens need to keep themselves from playing fancy. They need to keep the shots flowing at Tim Thomas who is known for never giving up on the play. The Habs need to get pucks to the net from all angles, because as good as Thomas can scramble, he isn’t the best positioned goalie, and he’ll often make saves look miraculous because he’s out of position. If the Canadiens throw the puck at him from the sideboards, rebounds will come to the middle, and given the speed of the forwards vs. that of Boston’s defense, this is where the Canadiens can win the series.
Outside the box:
I think you’d all agree that Zdeno Chara has the hardest slapshot in this series. If you think for a second that he won’t use that as a weapon you’re mistaken. There’s been a lot of talk about the Bruins, and their need to stay out of the penalty box in this series. I would suggest it’s of equal importance that the Canadiens don’t give Boston too many powerplay opportunities. Whether Boston’s powerplay is as effective as Montreal’s is highly debatable, but I can guarantee that the gameplan is to isolate Zdeno Chara and let him unload at every opportunity. I can guarantee that Boston will employ that gameplan even if the shooting lane is blocked, because with sore feet throughout Montreal’s lineup Chara might make a few players think twice about stepping in front of his shot. If they weren’t worried about it before, they will be, should Chara unload off one their ankles.
Knowing this to be the case, expect Guy Carbonneau and Kirk Muller to counter with more Begin, Smolinski, Kostopoulos, and Lapierre on the penalty kill than Alex Kovalev and Tomas Plekanec. It’s not to say the latter two won’t be used, they just won’t be used as much as they were in the regular season. The real challenge is playing a tight box down low when Chara’s shot is such a threat. His presence forces Montreal to play a slightly higher box, which gives Milan Lucic and company free reign to terrorize Montreal’s defense in the slot. The two keys to preventing injuries or goals off of Chara’s missiles are to not allow the Bruins to set their powerplay up, and to allow Carey Price to see the puck. They say you’re goalie needs to be your best penalty killer, and Price was certainly that throughout the year.
I’ve figured out the true key to Montreal’s powerplay, and it’s not really something you can defend against. Unless it’s Alex Kovalev, you’ll rarely see one of Montreal’s forwards carry the puck over the line to establish the powerplay. They either use a ‘hard-around’ the boards, or they’ll defer to Streit or Markov to set the play up by carrying over the line and reversing with the puck to the point, as they simultaneously enter with the three forwards on the ice. By contrast, watch Wade Redden dish to Spezza, or Heatley to get the puck in for Ottawa. The point is, that if you’re able to bring the puck in from your backend, you’re creating a better opportunity for your powerplay to establish itself, as you have more players in the zone from the onset. Montreal is able to do this because of the speed and skill of Mark Streit and Andrei Markov, Ottawa is unable (As are most teams) due to the lack of speed on their backend. Just like Ottawa, Boston will employ a hard dump-in, or Kessel/Savard/Sturm/Kobasew will try to use their creativity to buy enough time for their defense to involve themselves in the play. There’s no doubt Montreal’s powerplay is beautiful to watch once it’s set up, but they wouldn’t boast the best powerplay in the league if they weren’t as effective at setting it up.
Neither team can afford to…
Boston can’t afford to take dumb penalties. They need to stray from playing between whistles. They need to keep their cool, and they need to effectively take away time and space from Montreal’s skilled forwards. Boston can’t afford to open up their style, because the Canadiens are what everyone says they are: much faster!
Montreal can’t afford to take the Bruins lightly. They need to play their style of game; otherwise they’re likely to fall into the Bruins trap. If Boston takes away Montreal’s ability to score early in these playoffs, they are increasing their chances at baiting the Canadiens into playing an undisciplined, uncharacteristic style. Montreal needs to keep pushing no matter how stifling Boston’s trap is. I can guarantee that Boston will put all five players below the hash-marks so Montreal can’t afford to play the perimeter.
Prediction:
The Bruins will make things difficult for the Canadiens, and certainly give them a hard fight. The coaching match-up is worth an in-depth look that I’ll provide as we get into the series. This series, like any other will come down to goaltending and defense, and for that reason, I’m going to give Montreal the edge. Canadiens, in five.
Game 1 gets underway at 7:00pm…you might want to start watching the pregame at around 6:30, I’m sure it’ll be highly entertaining.
Enjoy!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»