While facing a daunting task of killing off Montreal Canadiens captain Shea Weber’s double-minor penalty to stave off elimination late in the third period of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals, Carey Price and the Habs’ penalty-killing units stood tall and withstood the offensive firepower of the defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning. Shortly after killing the four-minute penalty, Josh Anderson scored the game-winning goal to force Game 5 in Tampa. This is a testament that great defense will lead to a good offense. The New Jersey Devils can certainly learn from Montreal’s consistent and dominant penalty kill.
Successfully killing off a penalty can easily change the momentum of a game especially killing off a double minor. We saw that in Game 4 which felt like an insurmountable task when Weber went into the box late in the third period. It starts with great goaltending and a collective team effort on defense that is consistently in position to help their teammates out to neutralize their opponents in what I call the “No-Fun-Zone” or “NFZ”.
NFZ is the slot area in front of the goaltender where all the high danger chances would occur if the opponent were to take a shot on goal. The Habs penalty-killing units stopped all five power-play chances in Game 4 for the Lightning.
The New Jersey Devils could learn a thing or two from the Montreal Canadiens on killing penalties.
They played a textbook style of keeping it simple by playing the box (2-2) and forced the Lightning to move the puck quickly around the perimeter. And when the Lightning did get a chance in the high danger area, Price stood tall and made timely saves and kept the rebounds to a minimum. The Habs penalty killing was efficient and Price was able to see the play in front of him cleanly because the defense was moving the Lightning forwards away from the crease area. Once the penalty was killed off and generated momentum, the Habs offense took over and won the game after the Lightning failed to convert a goal. They essentially bailed out their star captain and go into Game 5 with some confidence and momentum.
The Devils can learn from the Habs’ simple yet effective approach on the penalty kill. Devils’ penalty kill was an absolute disaster last season which had multiple opposing forwards left uncontested in front of the goaltender crease. The good news is you can teach players how to play collaboratively as a team in order to build a great penalty kill. The Habs penalty killers consistently committed themselves to make sure they were never outnumbered where the puck was in their zone. In addition, their defense did not allow themselves to get caught off guard by chasing Lightning players around the perimeter. This is how you build a great penalty kill.
Remember, the Habs are a playoff team that earned the least amount of points in the regular season. They have thrived as underdogs in the Stanley Cup playoffs because of their penalty kill. And their success has gotten them to the Stanley Cup finals after upsetting the Golden Knights, Maple Leafs, and Jets. The Devils coaching staff need to take this approach and detail to their special teams if they want to win games.
They better, or else it will be another long season.
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