Canadiens Notebook: Habs, Leafs will meet in first round of playoffs
Leafs vs Habs #LeafsvsHabs
The Canadiens will meet the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round of the NHL playoffs.
The Winnipeg Jets clinched third place in the all-Canadian North Division with a 5-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night. That means all four playoff positions in the division are now decided and the first-place Maple Leafs will face the fourth-place Canadiens, while the Jets will play the second-place Edmonton Oilers in the first round.
The playoff schedule has yet to be set by the NHL, but the first round is expected to begin next week. The Canucks and Calgary Flames are scheduled to play the final regular-season game in the North Division next Wednesday afternoon.
The Canadiens and Maple Leafs haven’t met in the playoffs since 1979. The Canadiens swept that first-round series en route to winning their fourth straight Stanley Cup.
In 10 games against the Maple Leafs this season, the Canadiens had a 3-6-1 record. The Maple Leafs have a 35-13-6 record for 76 points, while the Canadiens have a 24-21-10 record for 58 points. Both teams have one game remaining in the regular season.
The Canadiens clinched a playoff spot with the point they earned from a 4-3 overtime loss to the Oilers Monday night at the Bell Centre.
With the Jets clinching third place, the Canadiens’ final regular-season game against the Oilers Wednesday night at the Bell Centre is now meaningless in the standings (5 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).
“Everyone has that in their mind knowing that we have our (playoff) spot,” the Canadiens’ Jeff Petry said after practice Tuesday morning at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard. “But, at the same time, we have to make sure that we’re continuing to improve on things we need to improve on and make sure that we’re playing the right way no matter if the game has meaning or not. We have to make sure that we’re not letting bad habits creep in. So we have to remain focused for the one more game tomorrow and then take a breath and make sure that we’re ready to go when it really matters.”
When asked Tuesday morning if he might rest some of his players if Wednesday’s ended up being meaningless, Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme said: “We might. But it’s not only rest. We have many guys banged up. Part of it is resting and managing those injuries.”
Playing for the tie
The Canadiens knew heading into Monday night’s game that they only needed a single point to clinch a playoff spot.
So after Artturi Lehkonen scored at 13:04 of the third period to tie the score 3-3 with the Oilers, the Canadiens were happy to sit back and protect the tie.
“Without talking about it, I could feel it on the bench,” Ducharme said. “The way we reacted, especially maybe in the two or three minutes after we tied it up I could feel that it seems like we were playing with a one-goal lead and we wanted to make sure that we were not giving anything else. Our players were aware of what we needed. It felt that way, but it’s not like we talked about it. We were in there to win the game, but we all knew that one point was what we needed.”
“I think the competitiveness in everybody is you want to win the game,” Petry said. “But we knew that tying the game for sure there in the last stretch would solidify our spot. So the final couple of minutes was just making sure that we played smart and not to take chances that were going to give them an opportunity to come down and to take the lead again. Obviously, we knew the situation and then went into overtime that’s something that we knew we had our point and we were in (the playoffs). Every athlete’s going to say we wanted to win the game. We weren’t able to, so that hurt. At the same time, we got the point that we needed.”
Petry showed his competitiveness when he smashed his stick to pieces after Connor McDavid scored the winning goal for the Oilers in overtime.
“Obviously, we knew that we got in the playoffs, but it doesn’t sit well when you lose a game,” Petry said when asked about his reaction to McDavid’s goal. “I just wanted to win the game.”
Kotkaniemi struggling
The Canadiens’ Jesperi Kotkaniemi had a team-low 9:13 of ice time in Monday night’s game and was minus-1 while winning only two of his six faceoffs.
Kotkaniemi has no points in the last 11 games and hasn’t scored a goal in the last 23 games. He has 5-15-20 totals in 55 games.
“He needs to play … he needs to be dynamic,” Ducharme said about the 20-year-old Kotkaniemi. “When he has the puck, making strong plays. He knows what we expect and he expects a lot from himself. Too. Tomorrow is another day and I’m confident that he’s going to be having a good game tomorrow.”
When asked if he was frustrated sitting on the bench so much Monday night, Kotkaniemi said: “I think the boys played a pretty decent game last night, so it was fun to watch.”
He added: “We just clinched a playoff spot last night, so I’m real pumped.”
Kotkaniemi performed well in the postseason last year with four goals in 10 games and he said that should give him a confidence boost heading into this year’s playoffs.
Growing pains for Romanov
Rookie defenceman Alexander Romanov has also been struggling recently.
The 21-year-old is minus-5 in the last two games and minus-11 in the last nine games. Jon Merrill, who has been Romanov’s new defence partner, is minus-11 in 12 games since the Canadiens acquired him from the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL trade deadline.
Romanov is in his third year of pro hockey after spending the previous two seasons with CSKA Moscow in the KHL. Kotkaniemi is in his third season with the Canadiens.
“A guy doesn’t progress in one week,” Ducharme said when asked about the development of those two young players. “Progression is through the season and through the season you go through stages. I always see the season with four stages. You start the year, the level of play is here in a regular season. In December, it goes up a notch. You get to another level when you’re around the trade deadline and then the last one is the playoffs. So those guys have been mostly through that.
“At times you can look and say: ‘Is he regressing or is it just the game that is played differently right now than what it was at the beginning of the season?’” the coach added. “We’re right now in that Stage 4 because we’re right there on the doorstep of the playoffs. So is it the players that are regressing? I don’t think so. I think it’s the play … the way it’s played right now is totally different than when we started and that’s part of becoming a better player and learning to play in that league and to be consistent and to be able to raise your game. It’s not an easy thing to do.”
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