The New York Islanders and Montreal Canadiens played in a game that can be described best as a barnburner. It was tied at three after regulation, overtime, and multiple shootout rounds and the game needed a winner by default. Noah Dobson scored on his shootout attempt and Semyon Varlamov made a stop to give the Islanders a 4-3 victory but neither team felt good afterward.
Related: Islanders Take Down Canadiens in 9 Round Shootout Thriller
The game ultimately showed two teams with glaring issues that will keep them from contention. More importantly, it showed the shortcomings of both head coaches. Patrick Roy and Martin St. Louis are both excellent coaches and will lead their teams to contention soon enough. That said, they are far from the best coaches in the NHL and their styles are problematic.
Roy’s Structure Leads to a Hapless Power Play
The power play is a reoccurring issue for the Islanders, a problem that has been with them for multiple seasons. It’s not a good unit even though all the pieces are there for it to be great. With Dobson at the point and Mathew Barzal connecting with Bo Horvat, the unit should be great. It isn’t.
Roy has the team playing with structure but was supposed to allow the power play to take off with skaters playing deeper in the offensive zone and having a willingness to shoot the puck. The Islanders looked awful on the man advantage on Saturday, Oct. 19 as they scored one goal on six opportunities. Ironically, this was a good day for them as they entered the game scoring only one power-play goal on 10 opportunities.
Roy doesn’t let the Islanders play with aggressiveness and creativity which hurts the power play and the offense as a whole. For all the issues this team had under previous head coach Lane Lambert, his desire to push the puck up the ice and play aggressive hockey allowed the offense to play better. Roy’s teams aren’t looking to do that and it’s noticeable on the power play.
St. Louis Is Leading an Undisciplined Canadiens Team
The Canadiens’ recent game felt like an oddity as they committed six penalties. It wasn’t. This team takes a lot of penalties and have been doing so in recent seasons as well.
Last season, the Canadiens were third in the league in power play opportunities against with 277 (interestingly, the Florida Panthers took the second-most penalties and ended up winning the Stanley Cup). They already have 22 penalties in their first six games. Sure, younger teams will be less disciplined and make more errors but this issue stems from the top or in this case behind the bench. An indicator of a well-coached team is if they take penalties and this team takes a lot of them, making it a notable knock on St. Louis.
The question the front office has to eventually ask is if this issue is a reason to find a new coach. The Canadiens enter this season with raised expectations and with that, more pressure on St. Louis to make this team look competitive. They won’t reach their potential if they stay in the penalty box and while they will play well this season, coming up short in the playoff picture will put St. Louis, and his issues, under the spotlight.
Both Canadiens & Islanders Have Defense Woes
The Islanders allowed only 2.80 goals per game through their first five games but their defense is far from a strength. They’ve allowed plenty of goals, especially late in games when they are looking to close things out. It’s how they lost their opening night game to the Utah Hockey Club and how they almost lost to the Canadiens in their recent game.
Similarly, the Canadiens’ defense has struggled early on this season. They allow 3.33 goals per game including 14 goals in the last three games. While the Islanders’ issues have appeared late in games, the Canadiens’ issues stem from their style of play which is often free-flowing and comes at the cost of scoring chances the other way.
For both teams, there’s a give and take to having offensive defensemen playing significant roles that are coming back to bite them. Yes, Lane Hutson is talented and helps the offense but the cost is scoring chances for the opposition as the young skater continues to learn the position. The same applies to Dobson who helps out the offense but often by hurting the Islanders at the other end of the ice.
For both Roy and St. Louis, it’s about finding balance in the unit but also making sure it can shut down opposing offenses. Both teams have struggled to do so and it continues to reflect poorly on the head coaches.
Ultimately, Roy & St. Louis Will Be Successful Coaches
The two coaches get a lot out of their rosters and have them playing well early on this season. The Islanders at 2-1-2 are in the middle of the Metropolitan Division while the Canadiens are 2-3-1 and in the middle of the Atlantic Division. The catch is that Roy and St. Louis are far from the best coaches in the NHL.
Compare the two to Rod Brind’Amour or Paul Maurice, two coaches whose teams win games one shift at a time, and on top of that, all four lines forecheck and defend. Sure, the rosters are talented from the top down but they are coached like Cup contenders as well.
Roy is in his first full season behind the Islanders bench and St. Louis is in his third season with the Canadiens. They both still have room to improve and make their teams better. Once they do, they’ll be the ones leading Stanley Cup contenders.
