And, as Cunneyworth has more and more practices with his team you can slowly see his style starting to take over.
What is his style? Well, first off, it is a two-man forecheck. Secondly, it is a work your butt off, never quit attitude. Finally, it is a never take your foot off the pedal style, that means the Canadiens do not sit on a lead in the third period.
Refreshing for Habs fans, to be sure.
And so is the two game winning streak they are on. Undefeated in 2012 but still having little to no chance of making the playoffs? Habs fans will take it.
Final score: Habs 3 - Lightning 1
Game Notes
Earning his keep - P.K. Subban tried an ill advised slapshot, in the first period, with a Lightning forward less than five feet in front of him. The shot deflected off the Tampa player and down the ice for what was shaping up to be a two or three-on-one break.
That is until Josh "I'm worth every penny" Gorges, made an excellent back-checking defensive play to cut off the pass.
You go Josh, you stalwart you.
The Habs best line? - Picking up where they left off against the Jets, the "third line" of Lars Eller, Travis Moen and Andrei Kostitsyn were the most dangerous against the Lightning.
Their passing and anticipation of each other's positioning is unmatched throughout the Habs lineup and man are they fun to watch.
Fast, skilled and physical, this line looks more like the first line than the third right now. It's amazing how different Eller and Kostitsyn are playing under Randy Cunneyworth. But I guess that's to be expected from two players—especially Kostitsyn—who seemed to perpetually be in Jacques Martin's dog house.
It's amazing what can happen when a coach a) let's players play their game and b) believes in them.
Come on P.K.! - Why is it that 41 games into his second full season as an NHL pro, P.K. Subban seemingly still does not know how to shoot the puck effectively.
Oh sure, he shoots it hard, but he either misses the net or shoots it too high.
And he continues to do it. Like on the Habs first powerplay, when he received a pass from Tomas Kaberle for a great shot with traffic in front. Instead of putting a low, hard shot on net, he fired a wrist shot five feet off the ice into a Lightning player's chest.
That is so house league it's not even funny. As I've asked before, are there no coaches on this team able to explain to P.K. the most efficient way to shoot the puck?
Apparently not because prior to last night's game, P.K. was second on the Canadiens with 44 missed shots this season—Max Pacioretty is first with 48. For a guy who is supposed to be the trigger-man on the powerplay, that is just not good enough.
Bad powerplay, really? - How can a team that has Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Steven Stamkos, among others, have the worst road powerplay in the league?
I don't get it but clearly the Habs are not the only team whose coaching staff is struggling to figure things out.
Oh, and is anyone out there still thinking that Tampa coach, Guy Boucher, is the best thing since sliced bread?
Didn't think so.
The return of the Patch - And there you go. Mr. Pacioretty (to steal a Pierre Gauthier-ism) scored the Habs second goal of the game. It was his 12th of the season, which seems pretty good.
That is until you consider that it is his first goal in 10 games.
By his own admission, Pacioretty explained this week that he felt he had hit a wall. He worked so hard over the summer to recover from his brutal injury, last season, that he ended up overdoing it. As such, he had been suffering from fatigue lately.
On a side note, this speaks to weak organizational standards that a player recovering from an injury as severe as Pacioretty's was not followed more closely by medical and/or training staff.
That being said, his goal last night was not only vintage Pacioretty, firing a low, hard shot past Tampa goalie Mathieu Garon, but it got a huge monkey off his back.
Don't believe me, check out the replay (I'll try and dig up the video) of him signing the removal of the monkey from his back. It's not online yet, but I'll add the clip when I find it (send me the link if you have it!)
It's classic!
Tweet of the night - The Tweet of the night goes to @KyleRoussel. Kyle and I were discussing Michael Cammalleri's maddening tendency to avoid any kind of physical contact. When I explained that Cammalleri comes as advertised, i.e. a great shot but avoids the physical stuff, Kyle replied:
"Lieutenant High-and-wide, promoted to rank of Major Hands-off. ;)"
Love it.
Stat of the night - Seven. That is the number of shots Pacioretty had on net. In addition, he picked up a goal and an assist, was named first star of the game and, in no uncertain terms, got his game back on track.
Question of the night - With Scott Gomez's unceremonious return to the lineup on the horizon, who sits? Moreover, does Gomez dislodge one of the top three centers (Tomas Plekanec, Lars Eller, David Desharnais) or does he slot back on the wing?
Up next - Montreal has a couple of days off before taking on the St. Louis Blues at the Bell Centre on Tuesday.
That match will mark the return of goalie Jaroslav Halak to Montreal for the first time since being traded. A Halak versus Carey Price game for two points? I'll take it.
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Kamal is a freelance writer, Senior Writer/Editor-in-Chief of HabsAddict.com, Montreal Canadiens Blogger on Hockeybuzz.com and featured columnist on PowerScoutHockey.com. Kamal is also a weekly contributor to the Sunday Shinny on TSN Radio 990 (AM 990) every Sunday from 9 - 10 AM. Listen live at http://www.tsn.ca/montreal/
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(Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images North America)
2 comments:
Good stuff Kamal.
It was refreshing to see Price play so well. Although he often appears to be more immune to criticism than most, the fact is that he had not played to this level in a while.
Cool to see Eller so confident, even if he did try to do a bit too much a few times.
@Louis: Too true. While Price may be the only reason the Habs had pretty much any wins over the first half of the season, lately, he has let in softies at bad times.
That said, I think playing in a losing environment takes it toll on even the best of players. The goals that Price was often letting in were ones where you could see his focus wasn't sharp.
That minorly distracted play, from time to time, is what you get when you're always losing. It's very tough, mentally, to keep that focus when you're going through tough times.
That said, it was nice to see Price in top form last night. If the Canadiens have any chance of making the playoffs they'll need Price to be the best goalie on the ice every night.
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