Canadiens coming together after late-season shakeup
Claude Julien chuckled before answering the question last Friday, noticing its ironic timing as his team packed for a 10-day road trip.
Would this extended stretch on the road be a good chance for the Montreal Canadiens to bond and get to know one another better?
“With so many new faces on the team, this trip is a chance for us to get stronger together,” Julien told reporters. “It’s something you see often at the beginning of the season, not so much now in March; but with the number of changes made to this club recently – the addition of myself included – we have a chance now to come back to Montreal a tighter-knit group.”
Since Julien replaced Michel Therrien behind the Habs bench on Feb. 14, Montreal has seen the arrival of one new head coach, five new players and a new “swarming” style of play all in the head-spinning span of 15 days.
You might think that’s a lot of late-season change and pressure for a first-place team playing in a hockey-mad city where every move is so heavily scrutinized.
“It’s not as hard as one would think,” Canadiens captain Max Pacorietty told Yahoo Sports.
“Claude has done a really good job to transition. He’s done a good job of introducing things slowly, while making sure we still play with confidence. He stressed a lot of positives and made sure we had fun. Even though we are under the microscope so much, he wants us to have fun.”
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There was plenty of fun in Montreal back in October and early November when the Canadiens ripped off a 9-0-1 start and had the NHL’s best record, 13-1-1, after a 5-0 shutout victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Nov. 15.
The following three months when the Canadiens limped to a 18-18-7 record that led to Therrien’s dismissal? Not so much fun.
“I just felt it was heavy when I got there,” noted Julien, who was unemployed for all of one week after being fired by the Boston Bruins.
“When you lose as many games as this team had lost at the time, it does get heavy. So, it was a matter of trying to change the trend and try and get some positive messages to those guys, try to build them up again.”
But what of the difficulty in trying to lift players out of their doldrums while simultaneously working newcomers into the lineup, seemingly on a nightly basis?
“That hasn’t been an issue, in fact the timing has been great,” said pugnacious Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher. “The new guys that have been inserted into the lineup have given us a lot of energy, on top of the boost Claude provided. We’re feeling confident in each other, line after line getting on the opposition regardless of what’s happening in a game, finding different ways to win.”
Winning is again a common theme, so far, under Julien.
The Canadiens have won six straight, including impressive victories over the New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks to start their road trip. They are 7-2-0 since Julien took over as coach.
Sounds simple, right?
“It didn’t happen right away,” explained Gallagher. “When Claude came in it definitely took some time.”
Added Pacorietty: “Early on Claude gave us a good talking to (between periods of an eventual 4-3 overtime win in New Jersey on Feb. 27). We had to look in the mirror and realize we had to be better for each other, and we were.”
The players, old and new, adapted quickly and enthusiastically to the tweaks implemented by the new coach.
“We call it a bit of a swarm,” explained Julien. “When the puck is in the corner we are trying to outnumber the other team. Instead of being passive, we’re being a little bit more aggressive.”
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Centre Andrew Shaw simplified it even more.
“We’re playing team hockey, winning our one-on-one battles. We stick to the program, work hard, compete, play well in our end and find ways to win.”
The recent additions of high-character players who bring a physical edge to their game – defencemen Jordie Benn and Brandon Davidson, and forwards Steve Ott, Dwight King, and Andreas Martinson – complement the core group that features speed and skill, giving Julien’s squad a more even mix.
“The new guys who have come in are team guys, ones who sacrifice their body,” offered Pacorietty. “They fit in right away.”
The Stanley Cup playoffs are four weeks away and the Canadiens are back on track, looking to make a deep postseason run behind a resurgent Carey Price, the 30-goal élan of Pacorietty, a group of rugged newcomers and a Cup-winning coach in Julien, who has the boys believing again.
“It’s a matter of them playing with more confidence, instead of sitting back and waiting for things to happen, we’re starting to initiate things now,” explained Julien. “When you start winning some hockey games, and the confidence comes back, those are the things you start seeing.”
