Hickey: Canadiens need to shoot more

In an era before videotape, assistant coaches and advanced analytics, Claude Ruel had a simple mantra.

Ruel, who led the Canadiens to the Stanley Cup in 1969, would urge his players to “skate, skate, skate; shoot, shoot, shoot.’

The current edition of the Canadiens can skate. The youngest team in the NHL is also one of the quickest.

They can also shoot, but they don’t do it often enough. Going into the Christmas break, the Canadiens ranked fifth in scoring with 3.27 goals a game but they were 29th in shots per game with 25.4.

If you do the math, the Canadiens are scoring on 12.9 per cent of their shots. Only one team has a better shooting percentage. That’s the Dallas Stars with a 14 per cent success rate. Ironically, the Stars rank 31st in shots per game with 25.1.

Martin St. Louis has been encouraging his players to shoot more, but there appear to be too many players with a pass-first mentality.

The one obvious exception is sniper Cole Caufield, who has a team-best 18 goals on 103 shots, a success rate of 17.5 per cent. One of the best shooting percentages on the team is Ivan Demidov’s at 18.4 per cent, but the rookie scoring leader has taken only 49 shots. Demidov scored his ninth goal in Tuesday’s 6-2 win in Boston and he didn’t have the option to pass because he was on a solo breakaway.

The win over the Bruins — Montreal’s first at the TD Garden since 2019 — allowed the Canadiens to enjoy Christmas in second place in the Atlantic Division and capped a 5-1-2 run leading into the holiday.

The recent success coincides with the decision to call up goaltender Jacob Fowler. It’s too early for comparisons to Ken Dryden, Patrick Roy or even Carey Price, but Fowler has been solid with a 3-1-1 record, a 2.40 goals-against average, a .918 save percentage and a shutout.

Jakub Dobes was also impressive as he allowed only five goals while posting a 2-0-1 mark in his last three games.

The success of the two youngsters raises the question of what the Canadiens do with veteran Sam Montembeault when he rejoins the team Sunday in Tampa. Montembeault, who hasn’t played in an NHL game since Dec. 9, went to Laval on a conditioning assignment and had his ups and downs in a pair of losses.

With the standings as tight as they are and a demanding five-game post-Christmas road swing, using Montembeault represents a gamble unless one of the kids suffers a meltdown.

Welcome back Phil: One of Marc Bergevin’s best moves as the Canadiens general manager was in 2016 when he traded for Chicago centre Phillip Danault. Bergevin had been with the Blackhawks when he recommended they select Danault in the first round of the 2011 entry draft.

One of Bergevin’s biggest blunders was when he failed to re-sign Danault after the centre played a vital shutdown role in the Canadiens’ improbable run to the 2012 Stanley Cup final.

Kent Hughes rectified that mistake this week when he picked the Los Angeles Kings’ pocket, giving up a surplus second-round pick to reacquire Danault.

In his previous stint in Montreal, Danault was upset because he wasn’t getting more opportunities on the power play. That won’t be an issue because Danault understands he can help the Canadiens by doing what he does best: winning key faceoffs and shutting down the opposition’s top lines.

In his return Tuesday, he was on the ice for 15:29 with 4:25 on the penalty kill, easing the issue this time around workload on Nick Suzuki. When Jake Evans returns — he’s day-to-day with a lower-body injury — Montreal will be solid up the middle with Suzuki, Danault, Evans and rookie Oliver Kapanen.

Women in the spotlight: With the Canadiens on the road, the Montreal Victoire will move into the Bell Centre Saturday for the third annual Duel at the Top against the Toronto Sceptres (2 p.m., CBC, Radio-Canada).

This will actually be a duel near the top because the teams will be battling for second place in the PWHL. They are currently tied with 11 points each, seven back of the first-place Boston Fleet.

The Victoire is guaranteed the largest crowd in the PWHL this season. More than 20,000 tickets have been sold and you’ll have to go on the secondary market to find a seat that’s not in the nosebleeds.

phickey0412@gmail.com

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