Canadiens have been held to two goals in each of their last three contests, lose 4-2 to Leafs
Author of the article:
Julian McKenzie • Special to the Montreal Gazette
Publishing date:
Feb 11, 2021 • 3 hours ago • 3 minute read
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The same high-flying offence from the Montreal Canadiens that wowed fans at the start of the season has hit a bit of a snag.
Montreal has been held to two goals in each of their last three games after a 4-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs last night. The Canadiens were also held to a pair of goals in back-to-back games against the Ottawa Senators, a team that many (myself included) thought might be left in the dust due to Montreal’s league-best offence.
The Canadiens still lead the league in goals for per game, but it was once above four goals a game. It’s since fallen to 3.85.
Wednesday night, The Canadiens played against a Toronto Maple Leafs squad that tightened themselves up defensively and, despite playing a first period where they couldn’t get many shots on Carey Price, kept the Canadiens’ most deadly offensive weapons at bay. The same Leafs who allowed four goals from the Canadiens in their first match-up of the season.
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“Defensively today, we didn’t give them much at all,” Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “In fact, I have this as the lowest number of scoring chances we gave up in a game all season.” Natural Stat Trick says the Canadiens had 22 scoring chances at five-on-five Wednesday night.
The Canadiens were able to get a number of goals and chances thanks to the space allotted to them against teams like Vancouver, where it felt like the Canadiens had breakaway after breakaway, while also breaking through defences with outlet passes. We haven’t seen much of these in the last three games, and certainly not many, if any, against Toronto.
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Allow to me give Jack Han, a former member of the Toronto Maple Leafs Player Development staff, a hat tip here for tweeting about the Leafs’ defensive scheme against the Canadiens. The Leafs had the Canadiens going up against a 1-1-3 that didn’t allow them much room and even led to turnovers in the neutral zone.
A good example of a quick counter off a 1-1-3 NZ forecheck.
TOR34 is the weak-side F in the back three. He swings over leads the transition & creates a chance. pic.twitter.com/c9sJaf33xU
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When the Canadiens were in the offensive zone, the offence didn’t spend as much time as they’d like to crashing the net and fired many shots from the wing and blueline. Far shots that didn’t cause Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen too much trouble either because he saved them, or they went wide of the goal.
The Canadiens did lead the way in high-danger chances (10-9) but only came away with two goals to show for it. Forward Corey Perry even feels his team did not do a sufficient job of generating more traffic in front of Andersen.
“I think he saw most of his shots,” Perry said. “They played a solid defensive game and you’ve got to give credit when they play well. I think we can be better at limiting our turnovers and playing that game down low and getting to the front of the net, crashing the front of the net.
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“Every goal, you see where they were scored tonight, in that 5-10 ft. area of the crease. You have to go there.”
The Canadiens, who were known at the beginning of the season as a team that applied relentless pressure on their opponents, have shown that when that same pressure it brought upon them, it could lead to more mistakes. Even when they’re on the defensive.
During a stretch of play in the second period that saw both teams at four-on-four, the Canadiens failed the clear the puck from their zone on a number of occasions. Leafs players were constantly pressuring and using their sticks to keep the Canadiens from clearing the danger. It ultimately led to a game-tying goal from Travis Dermott.
“We had the puck four times on our blade and we didn’t get out and (we) turned it over,” Canadiens head coach Claude Julien said.
The Leafs played a good game against the Canadiens by limiting their offensive chances while also forcing them to make mistakes defensively. This comes after the Ottawa Senators played some of their best hockey of the season while also emphasizing more defense in their play.
With the Edmonton Oilers on the horizon, the Canadiens will need to come up with a way for their offence to breakout once more while continuing to keep their big guns in check.
To the Liveblog! Where we only get the BEST comments!
Toronto looked at the game film from Ottawa. Get in front of Habs, take away time and space and neutralize our speed. Julien needs to figure out the response because it is not hard to beat us right now. Edmonton tomorrow and they will want to get even. — Derek Stevens
Why did the Habs wait to be down 3-1 to start playing with some intensity? — James Toth
The Leafs are shooting. We aren’t. — Carin Latzel
This is NOT the same team we saw early on in the season. A lot of passengers
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Only a week has passed since the Los Angeles Dodgers abruptly fired Ippei Mizuhara, the interpreter and constant companion of their new $700 million slugger, Shohei Ohtani.
But the biggest story of baseball’s spring is still murky — and shocking — as the regular season begins in earnest Thursday.
The scandal encompasses gambling, alleged theft, extensive deceit and the breakup of an enduring partnership between the majors’ biggest star and his right-hand man. Investigations are underway by the IRS and Major League Baseball, and Ohtani publicly laid out a version of events Monday that placed the responsibility entirely on Mizuhara.
Here are the basics as Ohtani and the Dodgers prepare for their home opener against St. Louis on Thursday:
Why was Ippei Mizuhara fired by the Dodgers?
Ohtani claims his close friend repeatedly took money from his accounts to fund his illegal sports gambling habit. Ohtani also says he was completely unaware of the “massive theft,” as his lawyers termed it, until Mizuhara confessed to him and the Dodgers last week in South Korea, where the team opened its regular season against the San Diego Padres.
Mizuhara has given more than one version of his path to this trouble, which was catalyzed by the IRS’ investigation of Mathew Bowyer, an alleged illegal bookmaker. Mizuhara has consistently said he has a gambling addiction, and he abused his close friendship with the Dodgers superstar to feed it.
Did Shohei Ohtani ever bet on sports?
That’s the biggest question to be answered in Major League Baseball’s investigation, and the two-time AL MVP emphatically says he has never gambled on sports or asked anybody to bet on sports for him.
Further, Ohtani said Monday he has never knowingly paid a bookie to cover somebody else’s bets. Mizuhara also said Ohtani does not bet, and Bowyer’s attorney said the same.
Mizuhara told ESPN on March 19 that Ohtani paid his gambling debts at the interpreter’s request, saying the bets were on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL and college football. If that were true, Ohtani could face trouble even if he didn’t make the bets himself — but ESPN said Mizuhara dramatically changed his story the following day, claiming Ohtani had no knowledge of the gambling debts and had not transferred any money to bookmakers.
MLB rules prohibit players and team employees from wagering — even legally — on baseball. They also ban betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers.
What’s next for Ohtani?
Ohtani has played in every Dodgers game since the story broke, and he is expected to be their designated hitter in most regular-season games this season while baseball’s investigation continues.
Ohtani says his legal team has alerted authorities to the theft by Mizuhara, although his team has repeatedly declined to say which authorities have been told, according to ESPN.
Ohtani’s new interpreter is Will Ireton, a longtime Dodgers employee and fluent Japanese speaker who has filled several jobs with the team in everything from game preparation and analytics to recruiting free-agent pitches. But Ireton won’t be Ohtani’s constant companion, and manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday he’s optimistic that Ohtani will become closer to his teammates without the “buffer” provided for years by Mizuhara.
What don’t we know?
MLB’s investigation of Ohtani’s role in the events could last weeks or months, and it’s unlikely to be publicized until it’s complete. No one outside of Ohtani’s inner circle knows what it will find or how serious any repercussions could be, and nobody outside the circle is making informed speculation about the process.
One major question looms: How did Mizuhara have enough access to Ohtani’s bank accounts to get the alleged millions without Ohtani knowing? Is the slugger overly trusting, or is he wildly negligent in managing his vast fortune, which includes years of lavish endorsement deals in addition to his baseball salaries? Why didn’t the team around him, including his agent, do more to prevent the possibility of the theft he claims?
Finally, where is Mizuhara? Anybody who knows isn’t saying. He was fired in South Korea and apparently didn’t travel home with the Dodgers. Japanese media have visited his home in Southern California to look for him. Although he was born in Japan, Mizuhara’s life is in the U.S. — but his life will never be the same.