With a mere three goals in three games, the Montreal Canadiens are, on average, the NHL's lowest-scoring team so far this season.
Of those three markers, two have come shorthanded and one at even strength, but it's not for a lack of trying. The Canadiens rank sixth among all teams with 37.7 shots on goal, but the puck just isn't going into the net.
"You hope that (goals) will come because some of the A-grade chances we had … I mean there’s been posts, there’s been crossbars, we’ve seen that early even in the preseason," head coach Claude Julien said Tuesday, per Stu Cowan of Hockey Inside/Out.
Indeed, it's a 2.65 shooting percentage that's sinking the Habs, a number that drops to 1.14 at even strength, per Corsica Hockey. A measure of bad luck is in play, surely, but Julien is stressing shot quality alongside shot quantity ahead of Tuesday's showdown with the high-scoring Chicago Blackhawks.
"We got to stick with it and I think at the end of the day it’s more about having a philosophy of bringing more pucks on the inside. I’m repeating myself," he continued, "(but) it doesn’t matter how many questions you ask me, there’s only one way to score goals. It’s by having the philosophy of wanting to take pucks to the net vs. bringing them to the outside.”
The Canadiens, who are coming off a shutout loss to the New York Rangers, are making one change to the lineup for Tuesday's game, with Ales Hemsky replacing Jacob De La Rose on the fourth line.
