Before last night’s 3-2 comeback win in Columbus, the Montreal Canadiens were being criticized by many for all sorts of aspects of their game. Head coach Michel Therrien changed his lines too much, P.K. Subban doesn’t deserve his contract because he’s not as flashy as he used to be and the most important & the most obvious issue was the weak powerplay that has scored only a single goal in the previous 18 attempts (and it would reach 23 when they started the game 0/5). There were some solutions resolved solutions in Ohio on Wednesday night while others are still being questioned.
Canadiens Resolve Issues in Columbus
Line Juggling
Michel, Michel, Michel. No one has any idea why you are constantly changing lines. After a six-game winning streak on the road, the Canadiens picked up a single point in two home games against Tampa and Pittsburgh and Therrien decided to re-write the line-up from scratch before they visited the Jackets. The fan-favourite Max Pacioretty-Alex Galchenyuk-Brendan Gallagher line was partially split as Tomas Plekanec replaced Galchenyuk down the middle. Plekanec’s has had about a billion different wingers since his tenure in Montreal started in 2005 and Pacioretty and Gallagher are just two more that he knows he might not play with for very long. Galchenyuk joined former linemates Brandon Prust and P.A. Parenteau.
At times this year, David Desharnais was playing on the top line, with Jiri Sekac and Lars Eller on the third, or with Plekanec and Parenteau on the second. Pacioretty is probably the only player on the roster that has stayed in the same spot all season; first-line left winger. Everybody else is fair game for Therrien’s marker and whiteboard.
What doesn’t make sense is the coach’s impatience with the lines he made. He has to learn to let chemistry develop between players. A two-game winless skid shouldn’t be causing a complete shake-up of the line-up. Maybe one, two changes every so often is okay, but when the top-six are being shuffled constantly, he is sending a message to his players that he might not trust them as much.
Playing junior hockey, I hate when I’m put on a different line. It’s like going out and skating with strangers at times. When playing with the same player on a regular basis, both players just know where the other one is. I had set-up one of my team mates of two years the other night and he told me after the goal “it’s like you have senses for knowing where I am”. That’s what chemistry is. From novice to junior to the NHL, linemates are linemates and chemistry is always there. But Therrien doesn’t allow chemistry to form between players. Lucky for the coach, the Habs have a great record.
As for the new top line it seemed to work for one night, with Pacioretty netting two goals, Gallagher nearly getting a goal (another half inch and it would be in) and Tomas Plekanec getting a number of great chances.
Subban Isn’t Flashy Anymore
Notice something different about P.K. Subban this season? Yes, you’re right, he doesn’t have many highlight reel plays. One I can think of is his goal against the Colorado Avalanche on October 18 when he waited patiently on a wrap-around and deked out the helpless Calvin Pickard. That’s how far it goes this season for those spectacular Subban plays. He’s had a couple of howitzers from the point as he usually does but they don’t stand out.
Instead, the former Norris Trophy winner is playing more of a reliable defensive game and has logged time on the penalty kill. P.K. on the PK. He’s taken some outrageously stupid penalties all season- he has 46 penalty minutes, second in Montreal behind tough guy Prust- that cost his team goals when they were short-handed. We can sort of see a correlation here. When Subban is in the box, they get scored on, when he’s not, the Canadiens have the seventh best penalty-killing unit in the NHL.
He scored just his third powerplay goal last night but was in the box when Ryan Johansen scored to make it 2-0 Columbus midway through the third. For sure, this game wasn’t a highlight of his career.
Subban isn’t his old-self anymore, that’s true, but he’s shaped his game under Therrien into the most reliable men on the blue line, not to mention his 9 goals and 19 assists are good enough for third on team scoring, behind Galchenyuk and Pacioretty. He’s also 9th in the league for points by a defenceman. Not many people have noticed that.
The Dreadful Powerplay
Fans in Montreal are dreaming right now of the days when the Canadiens dominated the league with a man up. They’re dreaming of Sheldon Souray, Mark Streit, Mathieu Schneider, Marc-Andre Bergeron and James Wisniewski. They are players who have all quarter-backed the PP unit along side Andrei Markov from the 2006-2007 season to the 2011-2012 season, when Subban joined in at the blue-line. The PP was great in the lockout shortened year with Subban and Markov on the points, but since then, the powerplay hasn’t nearly been as effective. Subban is more of a two-way player and those of the past are mostly specialists. Look at Bergeron, do you think any coach would have relied on him defensively? No, Jacques Martin used his powerful and accurate point shot in 2009-2010 on the powerplay when he scored 21 out of his 34 points on the man advantage that year.
The team is missing that extra spark this time around when an opposing player is sitting in the sin bin. Sergei Gonchar did help to have three d-men ready for the powerplay but the team is too selfless as the puck is passed around way too much. No shots were being directed at net and that’s why the team was 16-for-121 heading into the third period of last night’s game. That’s a 13.2%, 28th best in the league.
Thankfully for the team to save themselves from more criticizing from the fans and media, they scored three goals on the powerplay to propel them to a 3-2 win over the Blue Jackets. They are now sitting at 24th in the league at 15.3%, just ahead of Nashville, who have the best record in the league. Looks like the Habs aren’t the only top team with powerplay struggles and the Predators have the rocket of a shot in Shea Weber.
Questions of the day: With 20 goals in 42 games, can Max Pacioretty hit 40 goals this season? How many of the problems were resolved last night in Columbus?”
Thanks for reading! Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter @LWOSNick. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.
Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for?
Interested in writing for us? Find out more by visiting our “Write for Us” page.
