[SuperMatt18]

Habernac has it right.

Habs are a weird team that got horrible goaltending the last two regular seasons, and then Price looks like his old self come playoff time. But their underlying numbers are good and in the regular season the shooting/save percentage and special teams has held them back.

This is over the last two seasons - so wouldn't just be against North Competition.

5v5 Corsi For: 54.46% (2nd - just behind Colorado and ahead of Vegas)
5v5 Expected Goals For: 53.6% (3rd - behind Colorado and Vegas, ahead of Tampa)

Shooting Percentage: 8.78% (25th)
Save Percentage: .898 (25th)

It's hard to look good when your shooting percentage and save percentage are both ranked 25th in the league. But they are a team that has been able to carry play at 5v5 in the regular season, and they get a .931 save percentage over the last two playoffs (ranks 2nd in the NHL) and suddenly the team looks a lot better come playoff time.

And it's not like it's just Carey Price that stood on his head that led them past the Jets. They dominated play in that series with a 63.74% xGF in all situations and were well deserved of the sweep. Against the Leafs they got a bit lucky, but Leafs are a strong team and sometimes you need that in the playoffs.