Smash the Structure: Montreal vs. Carolina

Three days after winning another series in seven games, Montreal will start the Eastern Conference Finals tonight against Carolina. The Hurricanes, with twelve days of rest since dispatching Philadelphia in the second round, are clear favourites over the younger Habs. If Carolina’s time off is a handicap or benefit has been a talking point that seems less relevant than whether this easy path will doom the Canes when things get hard. But however Carolina starts the series, it will surely find the near-impenetrable form that neutralized the Flyers and Sens. Whether Montreal can pierce the NHL’s best defensive perimeter is the question that will decide who wins.

The Canadiens got here because Alex Newhook dipped a fluttering wrist shot past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in overtime on Monday. Montreal ceded a two-goal lead in that game, in part due to the brilliant play of Rasmus Dahlin, who was defensively excellent and scored its tying goal; but playoff hockey is merciless, and it was the Sabres captain’s weak play on the offensive blueline in overtime that eventually led to Newhook shooting the puck around his twisting body and past Luukkonen. Immediately, downtown Montreal reverted to type.

While Buffalo had the NHL’s best record in the second half of the season, Carolina will be a harder test. The Sabres played openly, powered by their large, mobile defense corps, and had none of the stifling defensive structure Montreal will face in round three. At times during the Buffalo series, the Sabres’ style seemed to help and hurt Montreal: the Habs had more room than in the first round against Tampa, liberating its stars; but in this more freewheeling game the Canadiens’ sloppier tendencies surfaced. “Get the puck deep” – a cliché you’ll hear in Instagram parodies of blowhard minor hockey dads, clustered rink side in a corner, yelling through the glass at their sons – is still a better strategy than turning the puck over at the offensive blueline.

The Conference Finals will punish disorganized play. Carolina’s close-checking and pressurized penalty kill have resulted in eight straight wins. The Canes have the league’s best defensive player in Jacob Slavin, several other high-end defenseman whose styles perfectly support the system Rod Brind’Amour has created, the playoffs’ hottest goalie in Frederik Anderson, and an extremely solid (if unflashy) forward corps, whose third line of Taylor Hall, Logan Stankoven, and Jackson Blake has been its most effective. Elsewhere, the team’s more accomplished forwards haven’t been as notable. Still, while Sebastian Aho is no Nikita Kucherov, he’s still good enough to become an issue.

If a system begets team success, Carolina is the proof. Unlike in say, Edmonton, no individual Hurricane is more important than the structure, which for Carolina has allowed a solid roster of unspectacular (albeit, very good) players to become a high-grade professional hockey team. This system has bent in rare moments during these playoffs, but it has never broken. If Montreal can win, it will have to employ the same techniques Ottawa did in its few moments of first round success.

The Senators managed to briefly seize control against Carolina only by using their speed and physicality to disrupt this structure. You cannot seize the citadel by knocking on the door and expecting its guards to let you in. Rather, you take the sides by force, smashing away with enough pressure to collapse its walls. Only once this aggression succeeds can the castle become yours. Unfortunately for Ottawa, these moments were fleeting and often came only once the Senators were already down. Montreal cannot start slow and then rely on a barrage of goals to win.

Put another way, players like Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkovsky and Demidov cannot depend on skill and improvisation. It is far easier for the world-class Slavin to disrupt Ivan Demidov’s stickhandling than it is for the world-class Demidov to beat Slavin one-on-one. Even crisp passing on its own won’t be enough to maneuver through the defensive pentagons and diamonds Carolina will create. Only with pressure – relentless, shift-by-shift pressure that starts at puck drop – can Montreal wear this system down over what, should the Habs find success, will be a long series.

It seems the Canadiens’ obituary is being written too hastily, in light of their gruelling path and Carolina’s early playoff dominance. But the Habs have a blend of attributes that allows for adaptation. These qualities must be focused into a strategy whose objective is to break Carolina open. Only then will the Canadiens' best players find enough space in the offensive zone to win Montreal four games. Sometimes artists must become soldiers if they’re to become artists again.