If there was anything to learn from the last couple of weeks of hockey, it's that you don't just go from playing your best to playing your worst, and you could say the same of that pattern in reverse.
The 6-0 blowout suffered at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings was a few games of substandard hockey in the making for the Canadiens. And last night's 3-1 win over the Phoenix Coyotes didn't come together until roughly halfway through the second period when momentum swung drastically towards Montreal's side.
The Canadiens came out with aplomb, but a Daniel Briere penalty in the offensive zone rocked them back on their heels, inexplicably. Granted, Phoenix put together a pretty stellar powerplay to provide the momentum they needed to inevitably capitalize a few shifts later, but one stupid penalty shouldn't have led the Canadiens to arguably their worst period of the season.
But, that's hockey. When you're not playing well, the slightest mistakes can eat away at your confidence, and what the Canadiens did over the final two periods of the game was slowly build up the confidence that might guide them to a successful week against quality opponents. They were able to do that because Carey Price stood on his head to give the Canadiens a fighting chance. Price stopped 14 of 15 shots in the first period, and it goes without saying that the Habs would've faced some pretty harsh music after the game had he not. The way they responded thereafter was commendable, as they took the game to a Coyotes team that appeared all to content with a 1-0 lead on the road.
Mike Smith held up his end of the bargain too, and if Max Pacioretty hadn't hit the post three times in the game, the outcome might have been much more favorable.
Pacioretty's two goals came on six shots that did in fact find the net; the winner being a powerplay clunker from the sideboards that caromed off Michael Stone in front of Smith. This was the second powerplay goal on the night, with Andrei Markov scoring the game-tying one earlier in the third after the Canadiens had only managed one powerplay goal in their last seven games.
The penalty kill was a perfect 4/4, and in the second period, killing off Brandon Prust's four minute penalty turned the game. Pacioretty's empty net goal ensured two crucial points in the standings, as divisional rivals Detroit and Toronto both lost games in regulation last night.
With that, the Habs keep pace with the Bruins, who remain three points up in the Atlantic Division, with two games in hand. *******************
1) Roberto Luongo hasn't lost in regulation in December, and Carey Price has allowed more than two goals exactly once in his last 14 starts. In fact, Price has been so good this season that he's allowed two or less goals in 21 of his 28 starts.
And it's not just his sparkling goals against that catches your attention, it's the big stops at key moments of games that's given Price and the Canadiens a chance at winning most, if not all of the games he's started.
In Price's last nine starts, the team has been perfect on the penalty kill, and you know what they say about goaltenders and the penalty kill.
Back to Luongo, in the eight games that the Canucks have gone on a 7-0-1 streak, Luongo's only allowed more than two goals in one of them.
There have been some remarkable stories this season. From Josh Harding's courageous and phenomenal season to date, to Alex Steen's offensive explosion, to Teemu Selanne's farewell tour, but no two players came into this season with more pressure on their shoulders than Price and Luongo, and both of them are completely changing the complexion of Canada's goaltending situation.
The off-season conversation was about Canada's weakness in nets, and with the way Price and Luongo have played, maybe we should start talking about Canada having the best goaltending options in the Olympic tournament.
2) Brendan Gallagher can't buy a goal right now, but he may as well have been credited with two of them last night.
I was asked on the air yesterday what's changed about Gallagher's game over the last 20 that's led him to this unprecedented slump.
My answer: Nothing.
The guy hasn't changed his game at all. His execution has certainly waned with confidence hard to come by after so many games of not scoring, but his work ethic is as strong as can be.
Gallagher was a presence in front of Mike Smith last night, and the reward was a much needed win, with Gallagher playing a pretty big role in it. That should help him.
3) Doesn't take a genius to see that Daniel Briere is really not in his coach's good graces. It was imaginable that some punishment for that bad penalty was pending. If a coach must impose some kind of punishment on a veteran of Briere's status, generally he'll give that player a chance to redeem himself at some point during the game. Briere saw about two more shifts for the rest of the night, and he had one scoring chance on one of them.
This isn't going to end well. I mean, you could've predicted it wasn't going to end well the day that Briere put pen to paper with Montreal. You could've predicted it wasn't going to start well, and that it definitely wasn't going to end well.
But we're not at the end. We're a mere three months into this two year commitment, and a lot going to have to change for any of this to be worthwhile between both parties.
How much worse it gets? Well, we'll see if Briere's dressed for Thursday's game against St. Louis. Smart money says no.
4) I don't know if P.K. Subban saw Brendan Gallagher and figured there was a good opportunity to get the kid back in the goal column with an empty net yawning in front of him, but that mistake that led to a 4-on-1, with the game at hand, was unforgivable.
If Josh Gorges didn't make the best play he's made all season, that mistake by Subban would've generated a 10-minute segment on Sportscenter, nevermind the hour the boys at L'Antichambre would've spent on it.
It's worth noting Subban made several outstanding defensive plays in this game, including a fearless block before Mikkel Boedker eventually scored his team's only goal.
5) With Alex Galchenyuk playing the way he is, and in the position he's in, the Canadiens have--for the first time this season--a top six. The lines are not assembled for three units of scoring, not that Lars Eller didn't do his best to remind Coach Therrien that he should be an option in one of those roles, but the dichotomy is clearly there.
And don't feel too bad for Eller, because Therrien is relying on him heavily to shut things down. He does have a role with the lines assembled as such. Eller should benefit from Rene Bourque moving up the lineup, and by the way, Bourque played a very good game for someone who hadn't played in 15 days.