Habs Penalty Kill Red-Hot At The Right Time

Oddly enough, the success on the penalty kill actually started with Alexandre Carrier going down with an upper-body injury. It may be a coincidence, but it seems that the penalty kill as a whole has become stronger with Carrier being replaced by Lane Hutson. Despite being an offensive defenseman, Hutson’s ability to skate the puck out of the zone as well as pick off passes with his quick stick has become a good asset on the penalty kill. This is a good sign for him to continue to grow his game and also help his case as being considered one of the best defensemen in the NHL, given that he can now be trusted in more defensive situations.

Even though Hutson has been doing really well on a second penalty kill unit, Pierre McGuire mentioned on Sunday’s post-game show that he feels Hutson needs to be taken off the penalty kill for his own safety, as he thinks that in the playoffs, his opponents will try to injure him if he’s out there in those situations. 

His opinion regarding Hutson needing to be taken off the penalty kill for his own safety seems like an odd statement to make when he’s having such success out there for the Habs. The fact that Noah Dobson and Carrier are both injured makes it even harder for the Habs to take Hutson off the penalty kill anyway. It also doesn’t make much sense why the Tampa Bay Lightning or Buffalo Sabres players would try to hurt him when they are trying to score on the power play. With that being said, Hutson is one of the key components to the Habs penalty kill success as of late and will now be relied on more in that situation due to losing the team’s top shot blocker in Dobson for at least the next two weeks.

The truth is if the penalty kill starts to falter, a lot of that will be because of just how good a shotblocker has been for the Canadiens this season. However, the good news is that Kaiden Guhle could likely fill his role as a top shot blocker next to Mike Matheson as one of the two main defensemen on the penalty kill.

On top of Hutson’s, Dobson’s, and Matheson’s success on the penalty kill as of late, the Habs have found out that forward Joe Veleno has been quite the asset when down a man, as he is able to be physical, cut passes, and isn’t afraid to block a shot either. He may not have had a role a few weeks ago on the Canadiens, but Veleno has found himself a spot where he fits well on the penalty kill as one of the Habs’ top defensive forwards. Being inserted into the penalty kill has helped the special teams a lot as the Canadiens. He has formed a great duo with Jake Evans, and it is leading to success.

Although the fact that everyone has been on the same page for the last while has been the team’s main reason for success on the penalty kill. Since March 31st, the Canadiens‘ 95.9% success rate on the penalty kill is the best in the entire NHL. Before that date, the Habs killed just 76.5% of their penalties and were on the bottom third of the league. Meanwhile, since then, they have moved up to the 20th penalty kill in the league at 78.2%. With that being said, the Canadiens’ penalty kill has been heating up at the right time, since if they want a chance to win their first-round series, they will need to win the special teams game. This is especially the case against an experienced playoff team like the Lightning.

Of course, the Habs will need all their players to buy in like they have over the past eight games to continue their success without one of their two best penalty-killing defensemen who may not return until after Round 1. It will be a tough challenge to continue being as dominant as they have on the penalty kill but they have what it takes.