The Montreal Canadiens are about to face their moment of truth. Will they find that extra gear and take the broom to sweep the Ottawa Senators out the door? Or will the Senators finally be able to sustain a higher level of play for 60 minutes? It would certainly be refreshing to see the tables turned and Montreal come out and press hard for the early lead. However one gets the feeling that their style of play will be more along the lines of “if it ain’t broke, why fix it?…. Actually, it is becoming a pretty predictable formula by now: 1) Withstand the early onslaught 2) Be generous and give Ottawa a 1-0 lead going into the first period, luring them with a false sense of security 3) Habs will regroup during the intermission and outplay the Senators in the 2nd period. 4) Carey Price will stop the puck as he always does 5) Shoot from every possible angle as an ugly goal gets allowed by a Senators goalie. 6) Win the game & series As much as it might frustrate fans, it’s hard to argue with results. Michel Therrien has his troops believing in his system and they are not about to lose their focus when they are this close to winning the series. One area though that they must improve upon is that desolate Canadiens power play. There is far too much confusion entering the offensive zone, each player being on a different page. For the power play to be successful they have to work as a cohesive group. Or perhaps Kirk Muller can take the night off from Saint Louis and lend a hand behind the bench? There is simply too much talent on the Canadiens for their power play to be this ineffective. At this point there have been a couple of noteworthy lineup changes for game 4. The Canadiens have announced that Nathan Beaulieu will be out the remainder of the first round with an upper body injury (though apparently not a concussion). Greg Pateryn draws back in as the 2nd and 3rd pairings get altered as well. Tom Gilbert moves up to play on the left side with Jeff Petry while Alexei Emelin will partner with Pateryn. Both pairings have had success in the past and so the adjustment period should be quite small. Pateryn was most likely chosen over Sergei Gonchar for his strong physical play which should help the Canadiens down low. On the Senators side Zach Smith is taking David Legwand’s place in the lineup. The Canadiens 4th line has been badly outplaying the Senators and the addition of Smith will make them a little faster and stronger. Dave Cameron has yet to name his starter for game 4. Ask any of the Habs and they will tell you it doesn’t matter who’s in net. They have complete confidence and knowledge that they can beat either Craig Anderson or Andrew Hammond. For the Senators the extra day before game 4 keeps the sting of losing game 3 fresh in their minds, a feeling that they would undoubtedly rather shake off. Game 3 was finally Carey Price’s turn to shine and shut the door on the Senators. When the Canadiens needed their goalie the most he was there. This series has been close, each game being decided by only one goal. However, there is simply no way that Carey Price is going to lose 4 games in a row. The thing is the Ottawa Senators know it just as well. I took the Canadiens in 5 before the series even started. Hopefully they can prove me wrong and get it done in 4.
Loading...
Loading...