An easy explanation for the Montreal Canadiens’ current four-game losing streak would be to point to the absence of goaltender Carey Price.
The loss of Price certainly hurts the Eastern Conference’s leader, but it’s a lack of scoring that’s been central to the Canadiens’ slide, not a matter of who’s between the pipes.
Don Cherry may have identified at least one cause for the Canadiens’ scoring woes during Saturday’s “Coach’s Corner” segment on Hockey Night in Canada. P.K. Subban has just one goal on the season, and Cherry believes the former Norris Trophy winner is not hammering the puck to the same degree he’s shown in the past.
“Everybody’s saying ‘oh, look at Subban he’s only got one goal.’ The reason he’s only got one goal is he’s letting up on his shots,” Cherry said Saturday.
Cherry intimated Subban is not driving the puck to the best of his ability because opponents are zeroing in on him in coverage.
“He’s putting it in there…they’re concentrated on him. Now he has one goal, but he has 20 assists,” said Cherry.
Subban is currently on-pace for 205 shots, which would match his career-high mark from the 2011-12 season. Subban scored seven goals that season, the lowest total of his career.
While the Canadiens have come out on the losing end in their last four contests, the club has continued to do the things well that contributed to their fantastic start to the season. Montreal has limited the opposition’s scoring chances, but they’ve scored just seven times in four games to opponents’ 12 goals.
Subban, a career 5.9 per cent shooter, is converting at a clip of 1.3 per cent thus far in 2015-16.
Cherry also touched on Toronto Maple Leafs centre Nazem Kadri, who currently sports an underwhelming goal total with five, but has drawn praise for his overall game. Cherry believes Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock has handled Kadri very well this season.
“Babcock played it so smart this year. He [Kadri] went 18 games without a goal…all he [Babcock] did was praise him,” Cherry said.
“I’m telling you right now he’s going to get a lot of goals. He was aiming the puck before. You gotta give Babcock credit, he stuck with him.”
Kadri is averaging a career-high 18:27 in ice time per game this season. He’s on pace to finish with 302 shots on goal, which would shatter his career-best mark of 176.
