The Montreal Canadiens got shut out by the Detroit Red Wings last night, and there's one simple fix that might have helped them avoid that result: shooting more. Throughout the season, they have been one of the teams that have shot the least and they need to fix that.
If there’s one thing that the Montreal Canadiens have been guilty of this season, it’s not shooting enough. They are currently 27th in the league in shots per game, averaging 25.9, having taken 1,164 shots in 45 games.
Martin St-Louis has often been asked about his team’s lack of shots this season, and the answer has always been the same: that’s not the kind of thing he wants to coach. In short, he wants to trust his players’ decision-making when it comes to shooting, because there is such a thing as “overcoaching.
He explained that if he started telling his players when to shoot and when not to, it would get in their heads, and they’d be on the ice, always wondering: “What would the coach want me to do here?”
While his argument makes sense, it remains that St-Louis has always said he doesn’t want to panic over trivial issues and prefers to focus on issues that have become a trend, and this most certainly has.
On Saturday night, after 40 minutes, the Canadiens had only taken 12 shots on net. While they kicked it up a notch in the third frame, taking 15 shots on goal, by that stage, John Gibson was oozing confidence, having been perfect through 40 minutes. Furthermore, the Habs didn’t get any power play opportunities in that last period, whereas they had one in the second frame.
The power play is often guilty of overpassing, which is unsurprising given how many gifted playmakers the Canadiens have right now. Still, the point remains, you need to score to win, and you can’t score if you don’t shoot. Ivan Demidov and Lane Hutson are very creative with the puck, and they both seem to think pass first, wherever they are on the ice.
Whichever way you look at it, the more you shoot, the more likely you are to score; it’s the simple law of averages. The Colorado Avalanche currently leads the league with an average of 34.4 shots per game and 4.05 goals per game. That’s not rocket science; it’s only logical.
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