MONTREAL - The Habs better hope the refs don't feel like calling a tight game tonight.
If the refs are busy, the Habs are in trouble. It is the best power play in the league against the worst. Both of the numbers stand out.
The Sedins have led the Canucks to a 29 percent success ratio with the extra man, while the Habs are running at only six percent.
Six percent has to be the worst this century for a team that has had strong power plays for years. The secret to success on the power play over the years has been weapons all over the ice. You have to be strong down low, and be dangerous at the point or your opposition just floods where you are strong and gives you the weak option.
The Habs wicked point shot through the years has been the reason Koivu, and Gionta could weave some magic down low. This is the first year they don't have a Souray, or a Streit or a Bergeron to let wicked pinpoint shots fly. Markov was always the set up guy with sweet passes, but when he feeds it over now, he doesn't have his marksman to fake to, thus setting up passing lanes across ice.
PK Subban will figure it out soon, but right now his shots are not getting through. Mike Cammalleri at the point has potential, but he plays so much on the half wall that the area is too condensed and there really isn't a point presence in this set up.
So will the PP improve? Of course. You can't stay as low as 6 percent. But the line-up is not as strong, until Subban figures out how to get that great shot through defenders and on net.
Here are your lines and pairings for the Canucks visit.
Lapierre-Gomez-Kostitsyn
Cammalleri-Plekanec-Gionta
Darche-Halpern-Pouliot
Moen-Eller-Pyatt
Markov-Gorges
Gill-Subban
Hamrlik-Spacek
