Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Habs Deserve Credit in Every Department for Sweeping Tampa

April 23, 2014, 10:26 AM ET [1642 Comments]
Habs Talk
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Winning a playoff series would've been an outright improvement over what the Canadiens offered last year. It was expected they'd move past the Tampa Bay Lightning; an opponent staggered by injuries to key players (none more critical than the one to Ben Bishop); an opponent lacking in the type of experience that lends to success at this time of year. Dispatching them in four games, dominating them in such thorough fashion--that is more than enough evidence to solidify the notion that the Canadiens have catapulted themselves out of the long, dark shadows of last year's sudden demise.

How have they done that?

Start with Marc Bergevin who, instead of asking his coach to alter the plan, brought in players that fit into the system he wanted to run. He added hints of toughness to a fast and skilled hockey club--not to alter their genetics, but to add dimension to what you may have considered to be a two-dimensional team. Their immediate dividend was a booster shot to the team's fragile psyche, with the long-term goal of preparing them for the playoffs never out of frame.

The moves Bergevin made leading up to the trade deadline gave Michel Therrien the depth to reinforce the demanding style of play he'd insisted on all season long.

Earlier this season, it was very apparent that the message had changed drastically from "you need three goals to win" to "play the right way". A comment during the team's struggles--one that would normally be kept within the sacred walls of the dressing room--spilled out to the public: "We are a grinding team. Accept it.". It was picked apart by the media and the fans, interpreted as "dump and chase, no matter what," and what it really was about was making this group realize that they can't progress without the maximal effort from most if not all their players; that they couldn't get by on speed and talent alone.

If they got a like effort from most of their players, this series with Tampa may have bled to six or seven games. They got the effort they insisted on all season long from all of their players--when it counted most.

You can't defend some of the curious decisions Therrien made throughout the season--at least not in the lens of immediate, minute-by-minute analysis. But, when you take the long view, it's so painfully obvious that this team was being prepared to play the only style of game that renders a team successful in the post-season.

Don't mistake any of that "grinding" talk for a departure from the team playing to its strengths: Speed and skill. It was all about reinforcing work habits that would enable their speed and skill to win the day.

"That's a process, and that's the way I see it," Therrien said, justifying a mentality he intended to cultivate throughout the season. "For me, hard work is the most important thing. Skill--yes, you need skill. But hard work is always going to beat skill," the coach surmised in explaining how he wanted his team to interpret that now-famous comment.

Isn't this a monumental part of the difference between last year's team and this year's?

There's no discounting the injuries Montreal encountered at the onset of their series with Ottawa. And of course, the inexperience of several Canadiens players was an overwhelming factor in what was probably a predictable series loss. But last season, they relied too heavily on the rush-game to manufacture the offense that pushed them toward the top of the Eastern Conference, and they wilted in the face of major adversity in the playoffs, when the lack of key personnel forced them to alter their style--a challenge that overwhelmed them.

There was a frustrating sacrifice made by the coach this season. He sacrificed a bit of the entertainment, and a bit of the artful skill the Canadiens possessed to harden them for the post-season. You can talk about how much harder the road gets from here, as the Canadiens were almost virtually unchallenged in round one, but you can't discount their preparedness for the task at hand, especially not after how they asserted themselves in this series.

Consider the lesson the Tampa Bay Lightning was just served. The rush game fell deep into the trap. The injuries disabled their patented skill game, and by the time they realized major adjustments were necessary, they were deep in the hole. Sure sounds familiar.

Jon Cooper and his troops will lament the bad breaks, the tough bounces, the questionable calls--as they saw them, and then they will look past them in the summer evaluation process to add the dimensions tantamount to playoff success. Considering where they're starting from, you can see their improvement is on the horizon.

Since the trade deadline, Therrien's been quick to remind everyone that this year's team is different from last year's, and he's not just referring to the personnel additions. He's referring to the valuable experience gained; the lessons they've learned and the adjustments they've applied. He's including himself in that evaluation.

The Canadiens deserve credit. Every department of their team deserves it. They've advanced in formidable fashion, executing another stage of their grand plan with precision. The test they face moving forward will offer more insight into how much they've evolved, but they've offered less reason to doubt them than they have reason to believe in them. That's a credit to the team's mentality, and it's a credit to the depth they now boast.
****************

1) To get to 3-0 without more than a single powerplay goal, without more than one contribution from their top line at five-on-five was unpredictable.

In order to win the series in four, they were going to need those trends to change. At least that's how I saw it.

Truth-be-told, they could've made it through without those things changing--and it looked like they were going to until Tampa turned the tables in the third period.

And so, in another moment of pure poetry, for the series to end on a powerplay goal scored by Max Pacioretty--his first career playoff goal; his first of the series after managing 39 this season, well, that was really something.

2) I don't know what to say about Anders Lindback. It's hard not to feel for him, because the experience he had could just as easily crush his career as it could make him stronger. You hope for the latter in his case, but you can't help but wonder what this kind of devastation can do to a guy that was already in the backup position.

He was put in a very tough position from the start, and a near impossible one in Montreal. He succumbed to the intimidation of the situation. He was far from the reason Tampa lost this series, but a big part of them losing it in four.

3) Steven Stamkos admitted last night that he lacked the necessary confidence in his leg to push himself to the place he needed to get to. His frustration was palpable--most evidently in game four. He alone could've been the difference between a four-game sweep and a competitive series. But in his condition, he couldn't do it alone.

4) Lars Eller, Rene Bourque, Daniel Briere and Dale Weise. Each one of them have their own Rocky Balboa underdog mystique--and the cheering section for each one of them must have exponentially grown throughout this series.

Eller's mental fragility throughout the season washed away at the onset of the post-season. Less time for thinking, more emphasis on reacting.

Bourque's effort level in these four games is either the direct result of the depth looming on the sidelines, or the realization after initial success that he could play at this high level.

Weise mentioned in his telephone conference call--on the day he was acquired--that his good play was rarely rewarded in Vancouver. I asked him last night if he ever expected to be in this position of being given the opportunity to prove what he could do, and at such a crucial juncture of the year.

"I never could've imagined this, looking back six months to the beginning of the season. This is a dream come true," Weise said of his first playoff taste in Montreal.

When Daniel Briere mentioned that the thought of pulling on a Canadiens sweater to realize a childhood dream brought him to Montreal this season, it was met with plenty of derision and skepticism. Try to deny the truth of it after watching him score the opening goal of the game that mattered most in the first round of the playoffs.

"I was hoping that I'd be in this position, and that at one point we'd be in the playoffs and I'd have the chance to score a big goal like tonight."

Briere added: "My kids have seen me score a lot of big goals in the playoffs, but they're at an age where they can see the difference and what it means in Montreal. That's special for me, and for them."

5) Four games doesn't alter the events of an 82-game season. To suggest the relationship with P.K. Subban and Michel Therrien was contentious at times would be putting it mildly, but you can't help but wonder how perspective has changed for both of them given this first success when it mattered most.

Therrien didn't loosen the chains; he took the leash off. And Subban's responded with a defensively sound and responsible game that's fed the confidence he needs to be the best version of himself. The risk-reward quotient was in proper balance in round one, and if it remains that way, he'll continue to be among the most important keys to Montreal's success.
Join the Discussion: » 1642 Comments » Post New Comment
More from Habs Talk
» Heartbreak> Brian Bannan
» Game 3 Preview: Brian Bannan
» Will the Real Habs Please Step Forward? by Andrew Wright
» Game 2 recap- Jennifer Berzan Cutler
» New Habs Blog> M.R. d'Awe