This team boggles the mind, don't they?
No one in their right mind would've predicted consecutive wins after the Canadiens practically welcomed a four-game losing streak with spotty, questionable effort through roughly two months of the comfort a healthy lead in the standings provided.
Not only have they won two straight, but there was clear progress from Tuesday's win over Carolina to Thursday's dominant performance over the Bruins.
That's right. Dominant.
Refreshing too. Last night's game was a distinct reminder of who the Canadiens can be when they get the full commitment of most of their players. It was a reminder of how well they can play together with a bit of confidence on their side.
Michel Therrien's brand of hockey is demanding; even more so for a team devoid of superstar talent up front; a team with several players of the Mighty Mouse variety. But when this team commits to playing the system; when the players apply themselves to the simplicity of Therrien's system, placing pucks in the right places and skating well and hard to retrieve them, they become a very hard team to play against. Add in some finish, some focus, and some good bounces, and it tends not to matter as much who's holding down the fort behind them.
That said, Peter Budaj redeemed himself mightily after losing three consecutive starts. Count me among those who considered starting him to be a very curious decision. Budaj's success at TD Garden aside (now 4-0 in Boston), calling on Price, who was unreal on Tuesday, seemed a logical choice for a team that had barely emerged from the all-consuming flames of losing terribly. Therrien gets the last laugh on this call.
Speaking of everybody's favorite coach, he deserves a lot of credit for the way he handled the intense scrutiny he's been subject to most recently. He's been under the gun like this twice previous in his career, and he seems to have learned from it, hence all the positivity that helped his team show something different than what put them in this mess.
All is not solved with a couple of wins, but there's no question that the Canadiens have taken important steps towards recapturing their self-esteem. Let's see what comes of it this weekend.
********************
1) Saw some comments in different places about Subban having an off-night, garnering only 19-odd minutes of ice, as the fourth-most used defenseman on the Canadiens side.
Typically, I don't prescribe to the idea that Subban should be playing limited minutes, and I highly doubt this will become a trend, but from Carolina to Boston, there was a remarkable improvement in his game. He got back to basics and as a result--short of one two minute minor because he got caught behind his man--he played a very smart hockey game.
There's a constant search for balance in P.K.'s game. He can take over any game with his talent, but he won't always do it. Forcing it doesn't help. When things aren't working for you, you have to get back to fundamentals, and anyone arguing that things were working for Subban over the last couple of weeks, simply wasn't watching.
Since this is such a hot-button issue, I feel it necessary to qualify this comment by saying that Subban is beyond reproach when it comes to effort and attitude, and his off-night is markedly better than most defensemen on a good one.
2) Arpon Basu of NHL.com tweeted something we were all thinking last night:
"It's remarkable how much better the #Habs are when Alexei Emelin plays well. He's almost the difference between a good and a bad team."
3) John Bartlett, who calls games for TSN 690 came up with a beauty of a stat to close out his broadcast:
When Max Pacioretty scores, the Canadiens are 14-1-1.
So, Pacioretty now has 23 goals in 16 games. He's appeared in 45.
So here are a couple of other stats regarding Pacioretty:
Last night, he scored his 6th game-winning goal of the season. It was a beauty. That gives him two more than Tomas Plekanec's four.
That ranks Pacioretty 3rd in the league in the category, tied with Rick Nash, Chris Kunitz and Patrick Kane, behind only Steen and Getzlaf (7) and Corey Perry (9).
Among American players, Pacioretty has fewer goals than Joe Pavelski, Patrick Kane and Phil Kessel. He's also played at least 10 less games than any of them. Kyle Okposo's got 23 as well, in 55 games. JVR has 22 in 54.
4) Since Mayor Denis Coderre's famous tweet about sending David Desharnais to Hamilton, he's got 26 points in 31 games.
He's playing great hockey. The little give and go plays with Gallagher, the brilliant passes to start the rush like he did last night, the setups for Pacioretty and Subban. It's almost unfathomable that he started the season with one measly assist in 20 games.
5) Ben Bishop left Tampa's game with Ottawa last night. He might not be ready to play tomorrow's matinee with the Canadiens. This could be an important break for a team that needs to keep the winning streak going.
Stamkos took part in contact drills yesterday morning, and there's a slight (very slight) chance he returns on Saturday.
Carey Price will obviously take Montreal's net.