Some Habs Team Stats You Might Not Know

After this afternoon's win over the Islanders, and knowing that the Canadiens had moved into third place overall in the NHL for the moment, I headed over to NHL.com to look over some statistical evidence that would explain their high standing.

I went into the team statistic category and looked at 30 different sets of numbers that involve goal scoring in every manner, shots on goal, power play proficiency, and performance by period.
Knowing full well the Canadiens are near the top in goals scored and have the league's second best power play, I want to see it broken down some.

One of my reasons, or curiosities, for doing so was to compare the Canadiens against the Red Wings and Senators, the two teams ahead of them in the standings, and see how they measured up.

In each category, I've listed the rankings and stats for all three teams, plus the leaders.
Montreal scored very well across the 30 categories, with four first place rankings, 11 in the top 5, and 15 in the top 10. Only once are they ranking in the bottom third in the league for a particular category, that being the 24th for total shots against since the beginning of the season. Their average ranking is 8th.

Detroit are simply stunning with 9 first place rankings, 21 in the top 5, and 25 in the top 10. There are not in the bottom third of the league in any of these categories, and their worst place was for short handed goals scored at 19th. Their overall average ranking is 5th.

Ottawa's ranking defies their first place in the East standing some. They have 4 first place rankings, along with 13 in the top 5, and 16 in the top 10. They are in the bottom third of the league in 7 categories and their average ranking is 11th.

Here are the stats I chose to look at. Click on the hyperlink and it will bring you to the NHL.com stats page in question and you can see the results in order for all 30 teams. Have fun, rejoice a bit, and keep an ice pack ready for your head!



















163 goals for, 4th behind only Ottawa (178) Detroit (174) and Philadelphia (163) who have two games in hand.

137 goals against, 11th behind Detroit (108), San Jose (119), and Jersey (121). Ottawa is 20th with 148 goals against.

58 PPG's, 2nd only to Philadelphia with 61, Detroit is 3rd with 50, Ottawa is 18th with 38

37 PPG's against, good for 11th, San Jose is 1st with 27, Detroit is 9th with 36, and Ottawa is 17th with 41

7 SHG's for, good for 7th, Chicago is 1st with 12, Ottawa is 2nd with 11, Detroit is 19th with 4

1 SHG against, tops tied with Ottawa, five teams ( DAL, CBJ, COL, TBL, FLA ) are tied with 3, Detroit is 23rd with 7

76 goals scored on home ice, good for 16th, Ottawa is 1st with 93, LAK is 2nd with 91, Detroit is 3rd with 89

60 goals against on home ice, good for 9th, Boston is 1st with 50, Jersey is 2nd with 55, Detroit 3rd with 56, Ottawa is 24th with 81

26 PPG's for at home, good for 4th, LAK is 1st with 35, Philadelphia is 2nd with 33, Detroit is 3rd with 27, Ottawa is 10th with 22

18 PPG's against at home, good for 11th, Dallas is 1st with 11 allowed, Buffalo is 2nd with 12, Detroit is 6th with 15, Ottawa is 25th with 24

4 SHG's at home, good for a five way tie for 4th (MON, LAK, TBL, PHI, DAL), Ottawa and Atlanta are tied for 1st with 8, Detroit is 10th with 2

1 SHG against at home, good for 2nd, Ottawa is 1st with 0, Dallas, Buffalo and Florida also have allowed only 1, Detroit is 14th with 3 allowed

87 goals for on the road, good for 1st, Ottawa and Detroit are second with 85

77 goals against on the road, good for 19th, Detroit are 1st with 52, San Jose 2nd with 53, Ottawa is 4th with 67

32 PPG's for on the road, good for 1st, Philadelphia is 2nd with 28, Detroit is 4th with 23, Ottawa is 20th with 16

19 PPG's against on the road, good for 6th, San Jose is 1st with 10, Nashville and Colorado are 2nd with 14, Ottawa is 5th with 17, Detroit is 16th with 21

3 SHG's for on the road, good for 11th, Phoenix is 1st with 8, Chicago is 2nd with 7, Ottawa is tied with Montreal with 3, Detroit is 17th with 2

0 SHG's against on the road, good for 1st, seven teams including Ottawa have allowed 1, Detroit is 24th having allowed 4
























1524 shots on goal, good for 13th place, Detroit is 1st with 1836, Ottawa is 6th with 1602

1612 shots against, good for 24th, Detroit is 1st with 1253, San Jose is 2nd with 1265, Ottawa is 18th with 1535

3.1 goals per game, good for 4th, Ottawa is 1st at 3.4, Detroit and Philadelphia are 2nd at 3.3

2,6 goals against per game, good for 10th, Detroit is 1st at 2.0, San Jose 2nd at 2.3, Ottawa is 22nd at 2.8

51 first period goals, good for 2nd, Detroit is first with 57, Ottawa is 3rd with 49

54 second period goals, good for 12th, Philadelphia is 1st with 68, Detroit is 2nd with 63, Ottawa is 5th with 60

51 third period goals, good for 13th, Carolina is 1st with 68, Ottawa is 2nd with 67, Detroit is 5th with 54

33 first period goals against, good for 7th, San Jose is 1st with 27, Detroit is 4th with 31, Ottawa is 21st with 45

52 second period goals against, good for 19th, Dallas is 1st with 37, Ottawa is 7th with 44, Detroit is 12th with 49

47 third period goals against, good for 12th, Detroit is 1st with 29, Philadelphia is 2nd with 33, Ottawa is 23rd with 58

88 goals 5 on 5, good for 13th, Ottawa is 1st with 119, Detroit is 2nd with 111

50 goals 5 on 4, good for 2nd, Philadelphia is 1st with 54, Detroit is 6th with 39, Ottawa is 13th with 35

Some other interesting notes:

The Canadiens are 1st in powerplay opportunities on the road with 131, but only 20th on home ice with 109. So much for referee favoratism at the Bell.

They have scored 32 power play goals on the road and 26 at home.

They have given up the 10th most powerplay opportunities with 240 so far.

The Canadiens home record of 10-8-5 which is near the worst in the league, but it is interesting to note that they have only played 23 or 52 games so far on Bell Centre ice, They are 6-2-2 in their last 10 at home.

Best of all, the Canadien are second in regulation time losses with 15, and third in combined losses with 23.

These stats, all told and totalled, add up to the Canadiens being the third best team in the league, and nipping at the Senators.

And damnit if that isn't something to brag about!

60 Years Of Canadiens Hockey Cards

No text here, just some cards from 1910 to 1963. Enjoy!

Habs Versus The Habs Wannabees

Imagine the Stanley Cupless ( since 1926-27 ) Ottawa Senators being compared to the 1976-77 Habs!

A stretch, you say! No (reference to excrement deleted)!

In the Wednesday, November 7, 2007 (circle that date!) edition of the Ottawa Sun, that is exactly how the papers sportswriters, three of them in unison, decided to tag this years Senators.

All this based on an excellent start, a whole 14 games into the new season!

First there was a opinion poll asking local fans to compare the editions of each team. Then there was a cartoon in the letters section of a Stanley Cup puzzle coloured in red, white, and black, with the names of each Senators player on a puzzle piece. Finally, there was an article that dared to compare a team that's never won a Cup ( or a city with an 80 year drought!) to one one hockey's greatest dynasties.

Talk about a WHOA!

If horses had been near me when I reacted to this, the straps tied to their bridles would have caused them to backflip!

Now I get that this season's Sens have gotten off on a record pace. (Incidently, the Sens lost the next night!)

I also remember that after 14 years of crying and trying, they finally reached the Stanley Cup finals last season.

I also recall that two seasons back, the same Ottawa scribes were likening the team to the 1980's Oilers.

I'm not kidding, when I suggest - without having won a Cup - why the upgrade?

Get real Ottawa fans! There's just no basis for comparison until Daniel Alfredsson hoists that Holy Grail - understood!

Now I will do my best so that what I am about to say concerning the Senators, in comparison to Habs, does not come off as some trite and uneducated putdown by a 2 year old blogger about to make his first $100 in Google ad money.

The teams, simply ain't in the same class. I'm talking about today's Sens versus yesteryear's Habs, as well as how the current team's regimes stack up against each other.



The Sens have shown a complete lack of class when it comes to the Habs in the last two seasons. Last year's pitching of a Habs fan off the Sens boat video, just days after Bob Gainey's daughter drowned, was one such stain. Pumping their chests after beating down an injury decimated Canadiens team two seasons back was another classless example of pomposity.

It's not that I dislike the Senators - I do, kinda. This is a well built team that has been structured to go all the way, and I'd bet on them to win the Cup. It's just that the atmosphere that the team (not so much the players) and it's unapologetic press corps reeks of, goes off like a mustard infested skunk spraying up my nostrils.

I've tried to help that, by putting aside the amateur and juvenile takes by the press covering the team, but in time I have become unable to disassociate the two. Let's just say that when it comes to maturity, Habs fans have PHD's and the Sens neophytes are learning how to use pullups.

What puts me off most has all do with arrogance and their stench of superiority, without a history to refer to, or having won something worth bragging about before it has been won. Underlining the juvenile notions in the paper, are the constant swipes at the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team they have barely showed a superiority to, in loads of differing ways.

For two years now, the letters to the sports editor, have contained a daily swipe at the Leafs, whether it be from a pro Leafs or pro Sens camp POV. Of course, it has been that length since Toronto has hurried the Sens post season, but they never allow that to cloud their reality.

Another reality they back away from, is the cold hard fact that the city of Ottawa probably contains double the Habs fans to those of a Senators stripe. A team doesn't win a batch of Stanley Cups, all carved deep into recent memory, without stirring the passions and allegiances of a bilingual populace entreched in the game's history who live but one hour away from the home of 24 Cup wins.




Heck, 14 years ago, when Canada last won a Stanley Cup, Ottawa felt such a part of it, that the Habs Cup parade could have dovetailed from St. Catherine's onto Bank St. without a break in atmosphere.

But things have apparently changed, only in the media, since the Scotia Bank Corel Palladium was dropped into a cow patch in Kanata a decade ago. Picking juvenile ( I say, creatively ghost written by Sens media ) fights with Leafs fans is a smartly camouflaged distraction to cover the fact that Ottawa remains Hab fan dominated.

The Ottawa media is triffle afraid to confront this reality.

Chris Stevenson, the only writer in the Ottawa Sun with an ounce of credibility, is a closet Habs fan. Other Sun scribes such as Bruce "Boo Boo" Garrioch and Don Brennan write about the Sens like they are on the team payroll - rarely an unkind word is uttered on the team.

I cannot wait until these teams finally meet in a playoff round, considering the amount of tickets Habs fans snap up in Ottawa for regular season games. A post season matchup would likely see the Montreal faithful eat up those 2000 seats that never seem to sell in the capital until gametime. Add in that the Hab faithful will outbid the Sens shrinking violet voices on scalper's row, and there will be a hefty Blue Blanc Rouge contingent come game time.

Now everybody knows the effect thousands of Leafs fans in an Ottawa arena has had on the Senators playoff success. Maybe this spring Daniel Alfredsson will look into the masses and wonder who all the red wearing is for.

Maybe the media should try a comparison with the 1967 Leafs first!

Habs Show Up Late For Date With Leafs

Yeah, I feel like writing this about as much as you feel like reading it, Habs fans.

I'll be as brief as my disgust allows me to be - that and I have to get up for 5 A.M., clock rolled back and all!

The Leafs stole one tonight, or were handed it, depending on your take.

When these two teams meet during their eight yearly matchups, weirdness reigns supreme. The Leafs team that is made to look like minor leaguers by the Washington Capitals one week earlier, take on the semblance of true contenders for long moments of the game. The Habs, who have commanded virtually all but one or two games played thus far, seem overcome by their own exhuberance, and fall to pieces at crucial times.

Other strange things happen on either side, like plays breaking down oddly, creating turnovers and scoring chances where normally there is caution. Pucks bounce different off everything. All Star goalies turn into sieves. Officials seemingly caught up the game flow and excitement either miss or allow a half dozen calls on both sides to vanish like hockey fans in the U.S. Star players are shut down and covered while lesser players look like giants. Goalposts turn out the be the first and second stars of the game. Referee Chris Lee points to center ice after a non goal call! Heck, even the games three stars were backwards.

Regardless of who wins these games - lately it's been Toronto, there seems to be a twilight zone segment scripted into outcome, where after all's said done with it remains mysteriously inexplicable.



Perhaps the Habs set their clocks back an hour before the start of the game, because the Leafs jumped all over them soon as they were up a goal. I thought the Canadiens outplayed the Leafs from the middle point of the first period on, with Toronto still getting a fair amount of good chances.

It's an old story that gets played out in rinks around the world on a nightly basis. One team capitalizes on its chances, while the other team doesn't.

Full credit in this one to Toronto for showing up on time to play for starters, and then for making the most of their opportunities. This wasn't the Canadiens worst showing by any stretch so far this season (the Thrashers game takes that honour), but it may have been one of the Leafs finer efforts.



Opinions differ amongst Leafs fans as to what this team really is. The three I sat with during my afternoon coffee (they'll be waiting on me tomorrow!) were each of a different angle on Toronto's hope's. My take is that they played this good - can't they be more consistant?

As for the Habs tonight, they seemed a touch off. When they created what looked to be sure goals, the timing fluctuated and passes were fired too hard or too soft.

The connundrum for a game like this is, what does a team learn from such a heart knifing loss?

Begin with showing up on time. The other lessons come through time and experience.

So far this season, the Habs have learned, or are putting into practice, the virtues of a tigher grip on the 5 on 5 game with less passengers and the worth of discipline when it comes to ill timed penalties.

In my belief, the sin of the night might just have been in taking the Leafs lightly. If in fact they looked at the Leafs scores from certain games this year and figured that they had played the night before and would be easy prey, then shame on them.

They should know better that the Leafs always come to play, especially in Montreal!

I've long gotten the inkling that Toronto takes these matchups more to heart, more seriously than do the Habs. I can't really put my finger on why - it could be because of many different things.

One of my coffee buddies says that these games are their Stanley Cup, but I don't exactly buy that, not from a player point of view at least.

In any case, this was as entertaining a game as the buildup to it was. The game delivered great value in it's passion, and we get to do it again six more times.

Maybe next time, we'll all be more enthused when it's over.