Dion Phaneuf picked a bad time to turn in one of his worst performances of the season.
This weekend will go a long way towards determining who will win the Atlantic Division title this season. The Montreal Canadiens picked up a win over the Ottawa Senators last night in the shootout, meaning their lead is now two points with the Sens holding a game in hand. Tomorrow, they will meet again in the Bell Centre.
Every point is crucial for these two teams for playoff home-ice. Ottawa coughed up a crucial one tonight because of the weak defensive play of one Dion Phaneuf.
To be fair: Phaneuf has not had a terrible season. He’s been pleasantly surprising on the offensive end of things. But his lack of speed and disappointing possession numbers will be his downfall, and tonight is a perfect example of why.
The scoring began last night two minutes into the second period, as Andrew Shaw tapped in a pass from Phillip Danault. A non-existent backcheck from the Ottawa Senators led to the Canadiens gaining numbers as they crashed the net. With the puck loose in front and both Ottawa defensemen behind the endline, Danault and Shaw essentially had a point-blank 2-on-0.
Peep Dion Phaneuf at the very top-center of the screen. After redirecting a pass from the neutral zone deep into the Senators’ zone, the Habs go charging in. Phaneuf, a defenseman, stays put for some reason and coasts into the zone behind the play allowing Montreal to have a man advantage. The broadcast team on CBC mentioned that the Senators like to stand in the neutral zone as part of their forecheck. I cannot imagine that excuses Phaneuf for being caught up ice so badly and refusing to move his feet once play shifts to his own end.
Derick Brassard evened things up later in the second on the powerplay. Kyle Turris flipped a perfect saucer pass from the left wing boards to the slot, where a streaking Brassard one-timed the shot past Carey Price. Just over a minute later, Ryan Dzingel poked a bouncing puck under Price’s pad as he hugged the post and the Sens held a 2-1 lead.
Montreal would find the equalizer in the third period, once again thanks to their grind line outworking Dion Phaneuf. The Canadiens entered the zone, getting the puck to the right-side circle.
Andrew Shaw has the puck at the top of the circle. He has drawn Dion Phaneuf close to him to try and force the puck out of the zone. Things look normal.
Shaw has drifted back towards the blue line, but he has taken Phaneuf with him. Recognizing that he is too far up ice, Phaneuf drops back and tries to cover a zone to block the shooting lane of Artturi Lehkonen. Someone ought to tell him that 1) Steve Valiquette says it is never worth it to block a shot from that particular angle since it is such a low-percentage shot, and 2) Tom Pyatt has already dropped back to cover that shooting lane to compensate for Phaneuf’s drifting.
This leaves Danault wide open, sneaking into the far corner.
Phaneuf blocks Lehkonen’s shot, but the puck hops right onto Danault’s stick, who slips right past Phaneuf for the goal. Next time Dion, just stay put. Defensemen wandering up high in the zone never works out well, especially when they are as immobile as Phaneuf.
It’s a trap that “stay-at-home” defensemen get caught in quite frequently, but no one ever seems to call them on.
This swung the momentum drastically, as just 30 seconds later the Habs found the back of the net again. Brendan Gallagher scored from a sharp angle because he was able to spin away from a hit from the Ottawa defenseman, who just so happened to be…oh, come on!
https://twitter.com/OftenBlunders/status/843270033904095232
Dion!
Phaneuf is clearly trying to avoid boarding Gallagher, as he slams the breaks pretty hard. But he does nothing but weakly throw an elbow to Gallagher’s back and he spins off it like the routine hit that it is. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this hard-hittin’, grit-havin’ Dion Phaneuf we’re talking about? This strikes me as an uncharacteristically weak attempt here.
If you’re not going to throw a hit, you have to get your stick in the play and break things up. Dion Phaneuf does neither, instead acting like a practice dummy.
Phaneuf was bailed out by the superior Ottawa defenseman on the squad Erik Karlsson, as he wired a wrist shot past Price through traffic to even up the score.
The Canadiens would score on both shootout attempts to steal a victory on the road.
This could have been a tremendous swing of momentum within the division. Instead, Montreal is returning home with a chance to sweep the weekend and pull as many as four points ahead in the standings. In the coming weeks, Ottawa plays Pittsburgh, Boston twice, both New York teams, Minnesota and Montreal once more next weekend. It will not be an easy schedule.
They may have blown their chance to get a leg up on the division, and the blame largely falls on Dion Phaneuf.
