This lack of offense was due to the Habs inability to get passes through to the slot. In fact, the Habs haven't been able to produce a success-rate when attempting to get a pass though to the slot to match their season average in either of the last 2 games.
SEASON AVERAGE
This season, the Habs have a 31.8% success-rate when attempting to get passes through to the slot at even-strength. This success-rate has allowed them to get an average of 7.43 passes through to the slot per-60.
ES TOT
SUC. PASSES TO SLOT PER-607.43
ATT. PASSES TO SLOT PER-6023.33
PASSES TO SLOT SUCCESS-RATE31.8%
IN RELATION TO CORSI %
When we break the team's results based on whether they produced a CF% above or below 50% we see that the Habs both attempted, and were successful with substantially more passes through to the slot in games where they demonstrated a possession advantage. This is simply the result of an increased opportunity to create offense, but has not carried through to the team's last 2 games.
CF% UNDER 50%CF% OVER 50%
SUC. PASSES TO SLOT PER-605.6010.28
ATT. PASSES TO SLOT PER-6019.4130.17
PASSES TO SLOT SUCCESS-RATE28.8%34.1%
IN RELATION TO SCORING-CHANCES
Success-rates vary even more when we break the results down by scoring-chance numbers. In games where the Habs have produced more scoring-chances than the opposition at even-strength they have a 36.5% success-rate when attempting a pass to the slot. When they are out-chanced at ES they have a success-rate within this metric of only 26.5%.
SC-SC+
SUC. PASSES TO SLOT PER-605.389.40
ATT. PASSES TO SLOT PER-6020.2625.73
PASSES TO SLOT SUCCESS-RATE26.5%36.5%
OVER 10-GAME SPANS
The Habs trend of getting fewer passes through to the slot is not only visible over the last 2 games. Montreal has been getting fewer and fewer passes through to the slot over the course of the entire season. The first 10 games saw the Habs with a 32.4% success-rate within this metric. It fell to 31.8% over the second band of 10 games, and has dropped to 29.3% over the last 4 games.
GAMES 1-10GAMES11-20GAMES 21-24
SUC. PASSES TO SLOT PER-608.197.624.65
ATT. PASSES TO SLOT PER-6025.2923.9315.88
PASSES TO SLOT SUCCESS-RATE32.4%31.8%29.3%
LAST 2 GAMES
That said, the drop over the last 4 games has more to do with the last 2 games than the 2 games before. During the Rangers game Montreal didn't enjoy the territorial advantage they did against Buffalo. This is why the attempts were lower against New York. That said, the success-rate has remained constant over the last 2 games.
RANGERS2BUFFALO2
SUC. PASSES TO SLOT PER-602.263.59
ATT. PASSES TO SLOT PER-6015.7923.9
PASSES TO SLOT SUCCESS-RATE14.3%15.0%
TRUE SHOOTING PERCENTAGES
Why is it so important to get passes through to the slot?
Because the Habs ability to score increases dramatically when the shot is coming from the slot. In fact the Habs score less than 1 goal for every 100 shots that originate from outside the slot. That success-rate increases 10-fold when the shots are coming from a player positioned in the slot.
ES TOT
TSP OUTSIDE SLOT0.9%
ES TOT
TSP FROM SLOT10.4%
ES TOT
PLAYER BY PLAYER "PASS TO THE SLOT" SUCCESS-RATE
David Desharnais has the top success-rate among forwards when attempting to get a pass through to the slot. The top success-rate among defensemen has been produced by Mike Weaver. As shown, defensemen tend to produce a substantially higher success-rate within this metric. This is because defensemen are attempting the bulk of these passes from the point, while forwards are attempting them from the half-wall of the corner.
Not surprisingly, recent games have seen Montreal's defensemen attempt far less passes to the slot. This has also impacted the success-rate. In fact, Montreal's defensemen have not been engaging in the offensive-cycle in recent games, as their offensive-touch numbers are down by almost 50% over the last 4 games.
Montreal will need to get more passes through to the slot if they hope to produce more offense at even-strength. A big step toward accomplishing this goal is to get the defensemen involved in the offensive-zone cycle.
