MONTREAL — Michel Therrien didn’t finish anywhere near the top of the Jack Adams Trophy voting last year.
His team registered 50 wins and 110 points and had the NHL’s second-best record. But the sentiment that goaltender Carey Price was solely responsible for Therrien keeping his job with the Canadiens was prevalent in Montreal.
It was prevalent outside of Montreal, too.
This year, the Canadiens couldn’t possibly be off to the best start of their 106-year history without Price. He saved his best for Tuesday night’s game. He turned aside 17 shots in the first period alone, stopping the NHL’s hottest player—Vladimir Tarasenko—six times, and he recording his second shutout of the season.
“Carey Price is just on a whole other level,” said St. Louis Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock after his team’s 3-0 loss.
But the sentiment that the Canadiens are much more than Price this season is spreading around the hockey world.
“This is a well-coached, disciplined, play-the-game-the-right-way team and they’re going to be a bear all year for everybody,” said Hitchcock. “If this is the element of their game that’s there, they’re going to be a bear against anybody because they have speed. But they use speed to pursue. They don’t use speed with the puck, they use speed to put pressure on you and they’re smart and they play as a team. They’re going to be a hard nut to crack.”
That’s high praise for Therrien from one of the most respected coaches in the league.
Through seven games, the Canadiens have been an impossible nut to crack. Here are four reasons they remain perfect after facing their toughest challenge yet.
The fourth line
On Monday, Hitchcock was saying that most teams will tell you they can roll four lines, but very few have the ability to do it.
Ice-time for Montreal’s fourth line against the Blues: Torrey Mitchell (13:21), Brian Flynn (14:06), Devante Smith-Pelly (11:39).
Mitchell scored his second of the season 11:53 into the third to give the Canadiens insurance. Smith-Pelly picked up an assist on the play to become the last of Montreal’s forwards to record a point this season.
But what these players did with Flynn before they hit the score sheet was really the story of the game, and their consistency in doing it has been a big part of what has made Montreal so dangerous this season.
“They used their fourth line, who’s an experienced group of players, to check our top players and they did a hell of a job,” remarked Hitchcock.
For the first time this season, Tarasenko was held without a point.
Alex Semin shot and scored
Semin came to Montreal after the president of the Carolina Hurricanes, Don Waddell, said the following about him:
“Alexander Semin was a very top-end player in the league when the game was played at a slower pace. It’s now played at such a high level if you can’t skate it’s hard to compete. Alex lost a step and he tried to play on the outside too much because he didn’t have the speed.”
There’s no denying that Semin isn’t as fast as was when he was scoring 30-40 goals a season. But he’s been anything but a perimeter player in Montreal thus far.
One element of losing speed is deferring to linemates instead of shooting. Semin came into Tuesday’s game having recorded just eight shots in six games.
Semin said the coaching staff told him to “shoot, shoot, shoot.” It’s a message they’ll have to continue to reinforce.
He matched a season-high three shots against the Blues and scored a backbreaking goal in the second period.
Price’s shutout nearly blown on a horrible bounce
The Canadiens were leading 2-0 in the second period when Blues defenceman Jay Bouwmeester shot a puck off the glass by St. Louis’s bench.
Price, expecting the puck would rim down the boards, went out to play it but it bounced off the rounded portion of the glass and went into the net.
Referee Brian Pochmara immediately waived the goal off, saying that part of the glass is not in play. Hitchcock and forward Steve Ott were both convinced the puck hit a part of the glass that was in play.
The goal being disallowed was a major turning point in the game, and it raised the question as to whether or not the first stanchion by the bench should be considered in play.
Surely, we haven’t heard the last about this.
Habs had discipline
The Blues haven’t been world-beaters on the power play this season (they were ranked 16th in the NHL coming into Tuesday’s game), but the Canadiens didn’t give them much of a chance to improve.
With the game at 2-0, St. Louis super-pest Steve Ott did everything possible to bait the Canadiens into penalties. His linemate Ryan Reeves did much of the same.
Brendan Gallagher took a face wash every time he neared goaltender Jake Allen’s crease (he was in there all night) but never once replied.
The Blues threw 48 hits at Montreal, which is saying something, considering how much they had the puck. (They won the shot-attempt battle 65-56).
Andrei Markov took an interference penalty while the Canadiens were on a first-period power play. Tom Gilbert took a second-period tripping minor. And Alexei Emelin closed his hand on a puck with nine seconds remaining in the third.
Not only did the Canadiens keep their cool, they limited the Blues to just one shot on the power play.
