One part of the Canadiens' game that Claude Julien wants to see improve in Game 3 in the tied qualifying round series against the Penguins doesn't have anything to do with systems and decision-making.
"We need a little bit more from everybody as far as it's not Xs and Os anymore, it's how hard you want to compete, how hard you want to go to the net, and how hard you want to get to those pucks and everything else," Julien said on Tuesday. "It's called will and determination. We need to bring that part of our game up."
The Canadiens were held to just one goal on Monday night, and have been outshot in both games, with a 41-35 margin in Game 1 and a 38-27 margin in Game 2. In both games, the Penguins came out with the better start and controlled the play in the opening minutes. Carey Price, the Canadiens' best player in both games, has held the Penguins to two non-empty net goals in each game, but the team in front of him hasn't been getting many opportunities to score.
"We've got to find a way to be a little bit better in front of (Price), top to bottom," said forward Max Domi. "Every single guy can be a little bit better, we know that, and we're getting ready for Game 3."
"The way our team is built and the way we play, we're on speed, and like Claude said, will and determination," forward Jonathan Drouin added. "We've got to be on pucks, we've got to do all those things. If we're not doing those, we don't give us a chance to win no matter who we're playing. We have fast forwards, we're forechecking, and the Ds are pushing the wingers on the side. That's where we're at our best. ... We've got to skate, skate, skate against this team and make sure that we're pressuring them."
The Canadiens are a fast team, but as Drouin said, their forward are fast. The defense doesn't play with the same speed. Jason Zucker said in training camp, they noticed that it was their fast forwards doing most of the puck-carrying with the defensemen just moving the puck up to them and catching up later.
“Their defensemen don’t necessarily carry the puck all of the time, they want to get it moved to the forwards and join the rush late,” Zucker explained at the time. “We just have to make sure we take away a lot of their options and get on them quick so they can’t move the puck as fast.”
The way to take away those options is to control the neutral zone so the defensemen can't as easily get the puck to the fast forwards. It slows their whole game down. And when assessing these first two games on Tuesday morning, that's exactly what Domi said the Penguins have been doing to limit their scoring opportunities, and it's working.
"It's a good hockey team over there," Domi said. "They know we're a fast team, and they're clogging it up, standing up and taking away the neutral zone so we can't really wind it up a little bit. They're getting pucks in deep and we've got to find a way to give our D some more time so that ultimately we can come back in our zone, be an out, and get our transition game going a little bit. Overall, we just need the puck a little bit more and play with some more confidence, I think that just comes with experience here. Game 3 is going to be a different story."
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