Canadiens’ offence can get on track vs. Sabres, TSN’s Frankie Corrado says
As someone who watched the Canadiens closely this season, Frankie Corrado isn’t surprised by the team’s upset win over Tampa Bay in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“Based on the growth of the team this year and how many times they won games where they didn’t have their best stuff,” the TSN hockey analyst told The Gazette Tuesday by telephone. “Go back two years ago, they’d have games where they played really well, and an eight-minute stretch in the second period would cost them the game. They couldn’t win games with their A-stuff.
“Now, you fast-forward two years late. They can win games where they don’t have it all going on. I’m not surprised they did it as a group. I am surprised the depth guys outperformed Tampa’s depth guys.”
The Canadiens defeated the Lightning 2-1 Sunday in the seventh and deciding game on the road despite playing far from their best game in the series. Not only did Montreal score two fluke goals — Nick Suzuki’s first of the playoffs and Alex Newhook’s winner, 11 minutes into the third period — the Habs also generated only nine shots, and none in the second period.
Later that night, Colorado scored nine goals against Minnesota in the opening game of its second-round series.
“It counterbalances because in Game 6 (the Canadiens) deserved a better fate,” Corrado said of the 1-0 overtime loss at the Bell Centre.
While that game ranked among the best of goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy’s career, according to Corrado, he also didn’t foresee the stretch of superb efforts that Montreal netminder Jakub Dobes has produced.
“I thought he would be good, but how many times did Dobes have a night where it felt like he was swimming?” Corrado said. “He’s got to get back into the lab and figure it out again. He hasn’t needed the recalibration, which I find crazy impressive at this point.”
And now, the Canadiens get to shuffle off to Buffalo and determine whether they can catch lightning in a bottle for a second consecutive series, beginning Wednesday at KeyBank Center (7 p.m., SN, CBC, TVA Sports, TSN Radio-690, 98.5 FM).
The Canadiens remained in Tampa Sunday night, enjoyed a day off Monday and practised Tuesday morning in Florida before flying to upstate New York. While the defence pairings remained intact — meaning Arber Xhekaj is the odd man out — head coach Martin St. Louis could be modifying his lines.
Juraj Slafkovsky was back on the first unit with Suzuki and Cole Caufield, replacing Josh Anderson, who was teamed with Phillip Danault and Alexandre Texier. Jake Evans was between Newhook and Ivan Demidov, while remained in the lineup, paired with Kirby Dach and Zachary Bolduc.
The Canadiens and Buffalo split four games this season. Both teams scored 13 goals and each won a game on the road. Corrado believes the series has the potential to be more offensive and somewhat more wide open. He also suggests not having Anthony Cirelli to contend with could work in the top line’s favour.
And while the Sabres’ defencemen are big, Corrado doesn’t believe they necessarily carry the same bite as the Lightning’s Ryan McDonagh.
Nonetheless, Buffalo’s primary six blue-liners are all over 6 feet and 200 pounds. Logan Stanley is 6-foot-7 and 231 pounds, while Owen Power, selected first overall in 2021, is a 6-foot-6, 226-pounder. And that’s without skates. These guys all could play linebacker for the NFL’s Bills.
“They’re going to be up and down the ice,” Corrado said. “You’re going to be sprinting with them. But they’re going to give up some, too. Opportunity knocks here for (the Canadiens’) big boys. They’ll be given a bit of a second wind to really take it over, which they weren’t able to do against Tampa. The depth guys honestly bailed them out.
“The size could be similar, but I think the mentality’s not the same.”
The Canadiens also will have to solve Buffalo goalie Alex Lyon. The 33-year-old undrafted veteran went 3-1 in five games with a scintillating 1.14 goals-against average and a .955 save percentage.
For the Canadiens to advance and reach the Eastern Conference final, Corrado doesn’t believe they have to alter their blueprint for success. They’ll have to be aware of the defencemen joining the rush. Montreal’s forwards will have to play an effective two-way game and backcheck thoroughly.
“They’ll have to weather the storm and be pretty attentive to these guys,” he said. “There’s going to be a little more firepower there. And that building’s going to be crazy. There’s going to be a different feel than what Tampa had going on.”
hzurkowsky@postmedia.com
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