Montreal Canadiens Uncategorized

The Bell Centre is far from being an advantage for the Habs this season
Jonathan Di Gregorio
The Bell Centre is far from being an advantage for the Habs this season
Credit: Getty Images

The Canadiens played their 20th game of the season yesterday, suffering their first regulation-time loss in a month.

So far, Martin St-Louis's team has had a very strong start to the season with a record of 12-4-4 and 28 points, which puts them in second place in the Atlantic Division, tied with the Lightning, who, however, have more regular-season wins.

However, despite a strong start, the Habs are still showing some more concerning signs.

On an individual level, one might point to the performances of certain players like Juraj Slafkovsky, but on a team level, the Montreal club is also struggling to dominate at home.

As noted in an article by TVA Sports, the Canadiens currently have more losses than wins at home since the start of the season, with a 5-3-3 record in front of their home crowd—good for only 15th place in the NHL.

For an arena that's supposed to be one of the most intimidating in the League, the Habs are far from being masters of their own home turf.

It's hard to understand, especially since the team has a 7-1-1 record on the road—the second-best in the Bettman League, trailing only the Oilers (8-0-1).

In eleven games, the Habs have a -8 goal differential at home (compared to +13 in nine road games), and their special teams are underperforming, with a 15.8% power-play efficiency rate and a 73.9% penalty-kill efficiency rate.

Notably, the team has squandered three leads of at least two goals in losses to the Predators, the Sharks, and, most recently, the Jets—points left on the table that could come back to haunt them at the end of the season in a division as competitive as the Atlantic.

In fact, the Habs' struggles at home are nothing new, as they managed no better than a 2-6 record in the last playoffs. One might argue that not having home-ice advantage actually helped the team reach the conference finals this past spring.

How can the Canadiens' struggles at home be explained? Could the crowd be an intimidating factor for a young team that might be trying too hard in front of fans who pay top dollar to attend the games? It's hard to say.

However, it's a problem that Martin St-Louis and his players will need to fix quickly, because if the Canadiens truly want to be among the NHL's elite teams, the Bell Centre must once again become a fortress where it's difficult for opposing teams to play.

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