Well, yes, obviously. As devilpenny pointed out:
… Carolina has more blocked shots in this series that [sic] Montreal has SOG.
Specifically, Montreal has 43 shots on goal and 129 shot attempts in their last three games, according to the NHL.com stats page. 27 of those shot attempts were off target (MsS in the NHL’s weird lingo). Carolina is credited with 56 blocked shots (showing up on the website under the column “A/B” for attempts blocked, which is uncharacteristically concise and accurate for the NHL).
And, of course, the implication of those facts together is not that Montreal is tired, or that minor injuries are having a toll on Montreal’s offensive game. This may be true; but it’s not actually what the statistics are showing.
What the statistics are showing is that Carolina is defending the H-E-🏒-🏒 out of their own DZ. Montreal is not losing so much as Carolina is winning. Carolina are imposing their will on Montreal in Carolina’s defensive zone, and Montreal does not seem to have an answer for them.
Weeeelllll…
Well, technically, Montreal does (potentially) have an answer to Carolina’s stifling play, but we’re not going to see it. Him. We’re not going to see him.
They still have Laine on their roster.
You want someone who can create something out of nothing?
That’s him.
You want someone who can somehow get shots through a stifling defence, shots that have no business getting through to the goalie?
That’s what he does.
You want someone who can take a zero-danger shot from the perimeter that an ECHL goalie could save, and yet somehow he scores on the best goalies in the world?
Yeah, that’s actually a specialty of his.
Could he stop a sweep? Could he turn the series around?
Only if Montreal plays him.
And I don’t think they will. They have invested too much time implying, if not stating publicly, that he can’t play Montreal hockey. There’s not enough corbeau in the province of Quebec for the Habs to let him play.
But wouldn’t that be just fun.
Y’know, that thing that hockey is ostensibly supposed to be?
Well, we’ll see soon enough.