The Montreal Canadiens emerged victorious in their Game One matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning on the back of a hat-trick effort from forward Juraj Slafkowski.
It is impossible to ignore the fact that all three of their goals came on the powerplay, a situation that will be very difficult to replicate going forward.
Canadiens vs Lightning at 5v5
The Lightning have an excellent penalty kill, shutting down 82.6% of their opponents' man advantages during the regular season, third best in the NHL.
With this in mind, it is important to evaluate how teams performed at 5v5 to better understand how the series will progress. While special teams will play a significant role in some games, hockey is mostly played at even strength.
In that vein, the Lightning controlled 54.8% of shots (34-28) on Sunday night, which isn't particularly surprising as they do a better job of controlling shots than the Canadiens, however, when we filter the results further, it becomes clear that the Habs were far better on high-danger shots.
The Canadiens held an 8-1 advantage in high-danger shots at 5v5, a flat-out dominant share of one of the most important statistical categories in hockey.
As we all know, not all shots are created equal. While a team that outshoots its opponents generally has a better chance of winning, that advantage diminishes when the opponent does a better job of creating high-quality shooting opportunities.
The Canadiens took many of their shots from the slot, while the Lightning were largely kept to the perimeter.
To put a nice point on his excellence in high-danger opportunities, Slafkowski made three times more high-quality shots than the entire Lightning lineup.
In an ideal world, you want your team to control both the quantity and quality of shots. However, in a short series, just focusing on quality could be enough to ensure four wins.
All Montreal Canadiens stats are 5v5, via Natural Stat Trick, unless otherwise noted.
