How Can The Habs Get Their PP Going?
The Montreal Canadiens are coming off a tough 3-2 loss in Game 4 in their series with the Buffalo Sabres. One of the team’s biggest issues was the power play, as the Canadiens had 7 opportunities to score but only ended up getting a single goal from all those opportunities. Essentially, the failure to execute on the power play led to the series being tied. The Habs’ power play’s success rate can determine a game, especially when the Canadiens are getting as many man advantages as they are. With the way the Sabres play, it feels like the Habs should continue to see many power plays in Game 5. The question now remains on how they can improve their man advantage and not end up in the situation that they were in in Game 4.
Confident. The Habs seem to have been the better team the last 3 games. Need work on the power play & be better with puck management / risk (if the D move up, they have to do this strategically to ensure the back end is supported. I believe Demidov should be off the first PP unit
— Some_Guy (@HABZ_FAN) May 13, 2026
During the series, the Habs have received 20 power plays for an average of 5 man advantages per game and have scored on 4 of them thus far. A success rate of 20% isn’t bad, but when it’s over such a small sample of games, they need it to be better if they want to win their series. It is especially dire when the opponent kills 6 of 7 penalties in a game, leading to momentum for the Sabres. The Habs will need to find a way to get their power play working the way it did just the game prior.
Should Martin St. Louis consider replacing Ivan Demidov on the 1st powerplay unit?
Pierre McGuire: “I wouldn’t be in a rush to do that. That shows a sign of panic”#GoHabsGo #thesickpodcast @TonyMarinaro pic.twitter.com/eu6vryEKOm
— The Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro (@thesickpodcasts) May 13, 2026
Tony Marinaro mentioned on Tuesday night’s episode of the Sick Podcast Post-Game show that he thinks the Habs should potentially consider putting a struggling-to-score Ivan Demidov on the 2nd power play unit and move the hot stick of Alex Newhook up to the top unit. However, Pierre McGuire disagreed, saying that if the Habs were to make that change, it would be a sign of panic, and he doesn’t feel that Newhook’s hot streak will last much longer given that he’s never been a pure goal scorer. On the other hand, he does think the Habs’ coaching staff needs to make adjustments by studying the tape of the power play of the last two games and seeing what the two differences were.
In terms of switching Demidov and Newhook, it could be something that works for a game or two considering how confident the latter is in his shot right now. Meanwhile, Demidov will likely get to play against weaker penalty killers, allowing him more room to make plays with incredible hands, leading to the 2nd unit having more dangerous chances. However, that likely won’t fix the main issue that was recurring in Game 4.
it doesn’t matter how much time they get when the urgency is on passing the perfect pass. Then the 2 second shot that is easy to read. Hutson needs to shoot more not pass always.
— johnnyT (@9c1bd088c7a6494) May 13, 2026
In all honesty, Game 4 saw Lane Hutson not using his deceptive shot to create scoring chances from the point. That doesn’t mean he needs to fire a 96 MPH slapshot but rather just get the puck to the net and have Juraj Slafkovsky in front of the net for the tip, like in Game 3. Despite it leading to a goal in Game 3, Hutson didn’t try to get his shot through to the net very often. It makes sense that he likes to try to find the perfect pass with his vision and hockey IQ for the easy shot, but sometimes just getting the puck on the net through traffic is what is needed to score. Essentially, Hutson should keep it simple and just get it on net.
The one guaranteed truth in all of the Habs struggles on the power-play Tuesday night is that they couldn’t get a read on beating Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen after having figured out Alex Lyon rather easily. Yes, Caufield scored on the man advantage, but it seemed Luukkonen adjusted very well, as after his first period in the series, he never allowed any goals. With that being said, watching some tape on how to beat Luukkonen would likely need to be the best way to fix the power play for Game 5 on Thursday night. Luukkonen has been a hot-and-cold goaltender, and there has to be a way to solve him quickly in this series if the Habs are going to win. Although this goes beyond the man advantage, figuring out how to beat him will be exactly what the Habs need to finish an undisciplined Sabres team in 6 games.
#gohabsgo game #5:
PP1 Tactical Blueprint: Dobson’s right-handed blast from the top stops Buffalo from cheating toward Caufield. Suzuki controls the pace, filtering passes into Newhook, or sliding pucks down to Slafkovsky, who uses his 225 lbs frame to screen Luukkonen. #habs pic.twitter.com/tOPzgjTnCi
— Xander Baldwyn (@BaldwynXander) May 14, 2026
What are your suggestions to fix the Habs power play for Thursday night?
