By the time your Canadiens suit up to play the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Toronto Maple Leafs could very well be sharing their position in the standings. Granted, the Leafs will have played three more games on the schedule than the Canadines, but that regulation win they mustered on Saturday certainly brought out the best of them last night, in Phoenix, as they skated to their fifth straight win.
Let's revisit that game for a minute; a game filled with gorgeous goals, defensive lapses, great goaltending, physicality, animosity; the kind of game you'd like to see these teams play against each other in the post-season, if it becomes a reality.
A lot was made of P.K. Subban's jersey kiss following his overtime winner in Ottawa, and apparently the Leafs hadn't forgotten Pacioretty's shorthanded goal celebration in Montreal. And Subban exacerbated things early in Saturday's game, trash-talking the Leafs bench as he strolled by post-powerplay goal. And I suppose the Habs will have JVR's jersey flaunt on their minds next time they suit up to face Toronto.
Does anyone really think any team in the NHL needs these things to provide them with motivation? We can't deny they deepen the hatred, the animosity, but why would anyone consider that to be a bad thing?
We've reached the latter half of the season, and these rivalries should be as hot as they are right now. It makes for much more compelling, entertaining hockey, and it wouldn't take a goal celebration to bring the hate out of either side.
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1) At a certain point, Michel Therrien's going to have to consider the cost of not pairing Andrei Markov with P.K. Subban and leaning on them for half the game. It seems as though he's leaning on pairing them back up, as they practised together yesterday.
The play of Alexei Emelin is understandably suffering, as he finds his way back to the level he was at before he blew out his knee.
Josh Gorges isn't quite playing his best consistently. Raphael Diaz has been dependable, but doesn't necessarily have the defensive chops to handle elevated minutes.
Doug Murray and Francis Bouillon don't really factor into the the top four.
You have to wonder if keeping Markov and Subban apart was more about managing their ice-time with both headed to the Olympics, than it was about the quality scoring chances they were allowing when the two were together.
2) The good and bad with Nathan Beaulieu:
a) He offers the Canadiens another blueliner that can skate the puck out of his zone.
b) He'll be exposed on the road, matching up at times against top six players he can't yet handle defensively. It's the best way to learn, but it's a lesson the Canadiens might not be able to afford as the defense allows the kind of opportunities we've seen over the last month of up and down hockey.
c) He's an option for the second powerplay unit.
3) What was the Joonas Natinen experiment other than a bold statement to Rene Bourque?
"Not only are you sitting as a healthy scratch, but we're going to play a guy in your place for less than two minutes; a guy who's likely to never play in the NHL again."
Bourque was back on a line with Briere and Bournival at practice yesterday, but he's not guaranteed his spot in Pittsburgh, with Louis Leblanc up with the Canadiens.
4) If you could pinpoint the biggest problem the Canadiens have right now, what would it be?
Obviously, the defensive play needs to improve dramatically, but the powerplay has to find it's way up the top 10.
The movement over the last few games has been much better, and though everything stems from Markov and Subban, they're starting to open up shooting lanes in the high slot for Pacioretty, and they're working out stacked tip plays from different angles.
5) Carey Price has fallen out of the top 10 in both goals against and save percentage. Due respect to Ben Bishop, Josh Harding and Tuuka Rask, Montrealers know that Price has been the league's best goaltender this year.
You have to wonder how many fans and hockey people out side of the Canadiens' base feel that way about it.
No goalie's under more pressure. And given what Price plays with in front of him, he's been absolutely remarkable this year.
Price has a very good chance of dethroning Roberto Luongo at the Olympics. If it happens, the world will get a good glimpse of what we've seen in Montreal this year.