Habs haven’t had a potent power play since Guy Carbonneau was head coach and they rank dead-last in the NHL over the last 10 seasons.
Martin St. Louis believes a good power play is like an orchestra.
Over the last three seasons — during which the Canadiens have finished 32nd, 28th and 28th in order in the overall NHL standings — they have ranked 31st (13.7 per cent), 29th (16.1 per cent) and 27th (17.5 per cent) on the power play.
During their first four pre-season games this year — during which they had a 2-2 record — the Canadiens were 0-for-20 on the power play before facing the Ottawa Senators Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.
The Canadiens haven’t had a potent power play since Guy Carbonneau was head coach.
During Carbonneau’s two full seasons as head coach the Canadiens had the best power play in the NHL. They ranked first during the 2006-07 season with a 22.8 per cent success rate and were first again in 2007-08 at 24.1 per cent. The Canadiens scored 86 power-play goals in 2006-07, led by Sheldon Souray with 19, and had 90 power-play goals in 2007-08, led by Alex Kovalev with 17.
Last season, the Canadiens scored 44 power-play goals, led by Nick Suzuki with 12. The power play lacked movement and was predictable, including the constant drop pass to Suzuki while coming out of their own end.
“With the powerplay, I think he’s going to do a good job,” Suzuki said about St. Louis at the team’s golf tournament before the start of training camp. “Obviously, he’s had a lot of success as a player doing it … the way he sees things happening on the power play and the way he can take advantage of other teams on the penalty kill. He’s been a big help to me and a lot of other guys would probably say the same thing.”
Now St. Louis is the conductor for the power play — without one of his best instruments.
Time to cue up the Benny Hill music again?