Few people expected the Canadiens to get to the Round of 16, but after beating the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 12-over-5 upset, they earned a first-round date with the Philadelphia Flyers — a team that looked to be playing some of their best hockey following the restart. A bloodbath waiting to happen, right?
Not quite. The Canadiens took the Flyers to six games but ultimately fell short and will exit the Toronto bubble with their heads held high. But where did things go wrong for Montreal? Let’s take a look.
Not enough offense
The Canadiens’ lack of offensive firepower isn’t a new development. They’ve been hungry for a few offensive game-changers for a lwhile now. They were able to get by the Penguins because Pittsburgh was such a mess on the back end, but it’s not entirely a surprise that Montreal struggled to score against a Philly team that is strong at pressuring the puck.
The “not enough offense” claim may look questionable on paper considering the Canadiens actually outscored the Flyers in this series, 13-11. However, look at the series breakdown for Montreal’s offense:
Game 1: 1 goal
Game 2: 5 goals
Game 3: 0 goals
Game 4: 0 goals
Game 5: 5 goals (1 ENG)
Game 6: 2 goals
Ten of their 13 goals coming in two games while they scored a total of three in the remaining four games? Not great! As it turns out, they’re a much better team when they score goals!
Montreal had a tough time getting anything going offensively for long stretches of this series. At times, the opportunities were there but the finish (or puck luck) wasn’t. They actually generated more high-danger opportunities at five-on-five than the Flyers in every game but one (Game 3) in the series. At other points, the Flyers didn’t allow the Canadiens to attack in waves or clean up in front of Carter Hart.
Speaking of that man…
Carter Hart
Not a bad first career playoff series for the kid, eh?
Even with those two five-goal outputs from Montreal, Hart still finished the series 160-for-171 in shots faced, good for a .936 save percentage and two shutouts. Goaltending analysts love to throw out the word “unflappable” and Hart truly looked unflappable at points. While the Canadiens didn’t do the best job generating high-danger chances consistently through the series, Hart was often there to make sure they stayed frustrated even when they did find prime opportunities. He just turned 22 and it’s hard not to see why many are calling him the best young goaltender to hit the NHL in a while.
In fact, he might be the most hyped goaltending prospect since Carey Price, who happened to be Hart’s netminding idol growing up and the other guy across from him in this series. Price played really well for the Habs but, ultimately, it’s Hart who was the standout when the two shook hands at the conclusion of the series, and that had to be a pretty damn surreal moment for the Flyers goalie.
Just not ready yet
Come on, let’s be honest … the Canadiens didn’t really deserve to be here at all. This is a team that had 19 regulation wins in 71 regular season games and made it into an expanded 24-team playoff as the 24th seed. They put up a better fight than I expected them to — heck, I wasn’t even sure if they were going to win a game against the Penguins in the play-in round — but this isn’t a team that’s ready to be a legitimate Cup contender just yet.
They gave the Flyers a good fight — and proved to be a chippy, annoying challenger — but they’re going to need some time (and work) before they’re truly ready to make a run and beat teams that are as deep as Philly. The roster still needs some work but this is a team that now has a promising core with forward momentum, a solid prospect pool, significant draft capital and financial flexibility. They showed a little bit of something this postseason and they belong on your radar.
Key losses
If you had told me that this Canadiens team would lose their coach as well as one of their leading goal scorers in this series, I would never have imagined they played as well as they did. Claude Julien was hospitalized for chest pains after the Habs’ Game 1 loss to the Flyers and he missed the rest of the series. Then, Brendan Gallagher, who co-led the Canadiens with 22 goals this season, was knocked out of the series after having his jaw broken in Game 5.
Julien is one of the league’s most respected coaches and was a big reason why Montreal got into the Round of 16 to begin with. Gallagher is not only one of the better finishers on a team with not a lot of scoring or depth, he’s also a heart and soul guy on that club. So it’s hard to look at those two very unfortunate departures and say that the Canadiens wouldn’t have had a better shot in this series had those guys stuck around.
Not enough offense (or puck luck)
Again, they scored three goals in the four games they lost. Obviously, losing Gallagher for Game 6 didn’t help but, I mean, you’re just not going to win a playoff series against good teams when your offense is that anemic and inconsistent. They have to go out and get some scoring help and pad the roster with some depth.
Also, and this is a hard thing to quantify, but it felt like the Flyers got pretty much every single bounce in this series. Sometimes that’s just the way it goes.
The past weekend of football was all about the favourites.
The favoured teams went 13-1 straight up and 10-4 against the spread in the NFL. In college football, the three most teams bet at the BetMGM Sportsbook in terms of number of bets and money all won and covered. All three were favourites.
Trends of the Week
The three most bet college teams that won and covered on Saturday were Ohio State (-3.5) vs. Penn State, Indiana (-7.5) at Michigan State and Oregon (-14.5) at Michigan. Penn State has now lost seven straight home games as underdogs. The Nittany Lions were up 10-0 in the first quarter and were 3.5-point favourites at the time. The Buckeyes won 17-10.
In the NFL, the three most bet teams in terms of number of bets and money were the Washington Commanders (-4) at the New York Giants, the Detroit Lions (-2.5) at the Green Bay Packers and the Buffalo Bills (-6) vs. the Miami Dolphins. All three teams won, but only two of the three covered the spread as Buffalo beat Miami 30-27.
When it came to the players with the most bets to score a touchdown on Sunday, only two of the five reached the end zone — Chase Brown (-125) and Taysom Hill (+185). David Montgomery (-140), Brian Robinson Jr. (+110) and AJ Barner (+500) did not score.
Upsets of the Week
The biggest upset in the NFL was the Carolina Panthers coming from behind to beat the New Orleans Saints 23-22. New Orleans closed as a 7-point favourite and took in 76% of the bets and 79% of the money in against-the-spread betting. The Saints fired head coach Dennis Allen following the loss. They have now lost seven straight games after starting the year 2-0.
Arguably the biggest upset in college football was South Carolina beating No. 10 Texas A&M 44-20 at home. Texas A&M closed as a 2.5-point favourite and took in 59% of the bets and 58% of the money.
NEW YORK – Washington Capitals left-wing Alex Ovechkin, Carolina Hurricanes centre Martin Necas and Pittsburgh Penguins centre Sidney Crosby have been named the NHL’s three stars of the week.
Ovechkin had a league-leading five goals and nine points in four games.
The 39-year-old Capitals captain has 14 points in 11 games this season, and his 860 career goals are just 34 shy of Wayne Gretzky’s record.
Necas shared the league lead with nine points (three goals, six assists) in three games.
Crosby factored on seven of the Penguins’ eight total goals scoring four goals and adding three assists in three appearances. The 37-year-old Penguins captain leads his team with 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 13 games this season.
Crosby and Ovechkin, longtime rivals since entering the league together in 2005-06, will meet for the 70th time in the regular season and 95th time overall when Pittsburgh visits Washington on Friday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
TORONTO – Running back Brady Oliveira of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell are the finalists for the CFL’s outstanding player award.
Oliveira led the CFL in rushing this season with 1,353 yards while Mitchell was the league leader in passing yards (5,451) and touchdowns (32).
Oliveira is also the West Division finalist for the CFL’s top Canadian award, the second straight year he’s been nominated for both.
Oliveira was the CFL’s outstanding Canadian in 2023 and the runner-up to Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly for outstanding player.
Defensive lineman Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund of the Montreal Alouettes is the East Division’s top Canadian nominee.
Voting for the awards is conducted by the Football Reporters of Canada and the nine CFL head coaches.
The other award finalists include: defensive back Rolan Milligan Jr. of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Montreal linebacker Tyrice Beverette (outstanding defensive player); Saskatchewan’s Logan Ferland and Toronto’s Ryan Hunter (outstanding lineman); B.C. Lions kicker Sean Whyte and Toronto returner Janarion Grant (special teams); and Edmonton Elks linebacker Nick Anderson and Hamilton receiver Shemar Bridges (outstanding rookie).
The coach of the year finalists are Saskatchewan’s Corey Mace and Montreal’s Jason Maas.
The CFL will honour its top individual performers Nov. 14 in Vancouver.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31.
