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Kevin Allen: Canadiens are playing as well as Lightning |
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While Carey Price was impersonating Superman in pushing the Montreal Canadiens into the Stanley Cup Final, I remembered a conversation I once had with former NHL general manager Jim Rutherford.
I asked Rutherford whether he thought an up-and-coming coach was an exceptional coach.
“Who’s his goalie?” Rutherford replied.
The point Rutherford made in humorous fashion is that quality goaltending can make a coach look like a Hall of Famer, or expedite a rebuilding effort, or lead a team into the Stanley Cup Final.
A few seasons ago, we were all talking about how the NHL had been taken over by speed and youth. In the last couple of years, the conversation has been about how teams should get heavier if they want to win.
Trends come and go in the NHL. But what never changes, what never goes out of style, is the notion that stingy goaltending and relentless defensive play can carry the day no matter what else is happening on the ice.
The Montreal Canadiens presence in the 2021 Stanley Cup Final bears witness to that truth.
In the first three rounds of the playoffs, everyone was trying to identify what was wrong with Montreal’s opponents. But the real story was what was right with Montreal.
In the regular-season, the Montreal Canadiens had the NHL’s 18th best record. They were below average in scoring, on the power play and in penalty killing. But they boast four defensemen -- Shea Weber, Jeff Petry, Joel Edmundson and Ben Chiarot -- who are challenging to play against.
And they have Price, a goalie with an aura, a pedigree and a reputation for excellence. And he has played brilliantly in this postseason.
The Habs are a team built more for the playoffs than the regular season.
As we get caught up in an assortment of trends, what we don’t say enough is if you have super hero-level goaltending, a strong defense and if you are playing your best hockey of the season, you have a shot to win.
The Canadiens have given up two or fewer goals in 12 of their 17 playoff games. They held the Vegas Golden Knights, the league’s third-highest scoring team in 2020-21, to two or fewer goals in five of the six games of their series. That’s why they are back in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1993. That’s why the Canadiens might be the most surprising finalist since the Edmonton Oilers in 2006.
Goaltending. Defense. Playing hard. It’s a formula as simple as H2O.
Then you add in the late-season addition of diminutive and dynamic Cole Caufield who is always one stride away from a breakaway every time he takes the ice. They are also 5-1 in overtime, and the Semifinal clinching OT tally came from Arturri Lehkonen who scored seven goals in the regular-season
Corey Perry, 36, has tapped into his energy reserve and Eric Staal, 36, has had some quality moments this postseason.
What it means is the Canadiens are playing as well as either team playing in the Game 7. The Habs won’t be favored in the Stanley Cup. But they weren’t favored in the first three rounds, either. The Canadiens know as long as their goaltending remains sharp, their defense is strong and they play hard they have a shot at winnin the Cup
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