The Montreal Canadiens struggled to score goals all season long, but their stellar goaltender helped hide the issue. There's no hiding in the playoffs, however, and the Canadiens lost in the second round of the postseason due to their lack of an answer for their consistent scoring struggles.
Only five Canadiens managed more than one goal in the postseason, and two of those goal-scorers were defensemen. Montreal finished the postseason tied for third-from-last in goals-per-game (2.08), and it's tough to beat the best offense in the NHL with only two goals per game.
"It’s at times like these that the Habs’ lack of snipers – proper, bona fide finishers – becomes more glaring," The Globe and Mail wrote following Game 6. "There is talent in this lineup, certainly, but where the Lightning had Stamkos, Johnson, Palat and Kucherov, the Habs had [Max] Pacioretty and perhaps [Brendan] Gallagher."
The Canadiens now have a few months to figure out how to fix their scoring woes, whether by promoting internal prospects, hitting the trade market or signing a key free agent. But according to defenseman P.K. Subban, this season's playoffs were a good lesson for the Canadiens.
"That’s the one thing you learn about the playoffs: you’ve got to bury your chances," Subban told The Globe and Mail. "I think individually we’ve all had chances to bury and whether it’s bad luck or not being sharp enough, we didn’t do enough things well to finish ‘em, to win. We did a lot of good things to be in the series, but to win the series you’ve got to finish. You’ve got to be great, and we weren’t great."
(h/t The Globe and Mail)
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