Mar 21 Bouncing Back

It seems as though there’s no obstacle too big for this undersized Habs team. Dating back to last year’s amazing playoff run, and after suffering through a staggering amount of injuries to key players this year, you’d think the Habs would eventually run out of magic. But they continue to not only hang around in games, they continue to win at a very high clip. At some point, it stops being magic, and starts becoming identity. While we wouldn’t want to tempt fate and see what happens if Price were to be injured, or if Subban were felled, considering how they manage to find ways to win, you wonder just how far they’d fall, or if they’d fall at all.

Without Plekanec, Halpern, Gill, and a litany of others in the infirmary, Habs nation couldn’t be blamed if they thought the end was nigh after Friday’s drubbing at the hands of the Rangers. Nobody looked good in that match, including Habs (and perhaps league) MVP Carey Price. All we fans could do is shrug in resignation…what else could the Habs have done? Sure, injuries and fatigue are no excuse in today’s NHL, but at some point, you need to call a spade a spade, right? The Habs have relied so heavily on the Bulldogs organization to keep filling the roster that Hamilton is now in danger of sliding out of the playoff picture, where once they were gliding along comfortably. When does the camel’s back break? Apparently not any time soon. Fast forward 48 hours, and the Habs would take the same team that was trounced in New York and proceed to hang 8 goals around the Wild’s neck. Go figure.

The Habs keep coming. They fill holes, and when they fall behind they don’t quit. They rebound from losses very quickly. All of this speaks to the character, guts and yes, coaching of the team. Guys like Gionta, Gill, Hamrlik, Kostitsyn and many others keep the team aloft while Price provides Hart-trophy-caliber goaltending. Meanwhile, behind the Habs bench, a frequent target of my ire has to be given much credit. Jacques Martin may not be the type of coach that makes a good team great, but he is the type of coach that can make a depleted team competitive, and keep them that way over the course of a long season. You can read more on that by Steve here. While my frustration with Martin has been that his strict system prevents his team from maximizing their skills, one has to wonder what happens when a progressive, aggressive coach loses the lynchpins of his team. Mike Babcock and Dan Bylsma immediately spring to mind as guys who thrive in almost any scenario, but there are only so many Babcocks and Bylsmas out there, and that’s precisely the reason why Pittsburgh extended this Jack Adams candidate (and winner in this blogger’s opinion) for another 3 seasons. Nevertheless, the Canadiens have a good teacher in Jacques Martin, which is a good consolation at a time like this. With any luck, he’s also in the middle of shedding the dubious mantle of being a guy who doesn’t develop youth properly. Looking up and down the Habs roster, it doesn’t take a genius to see that the kids are contributing more than their fair share to the Canadiens’ recent success. Pacioretty, Eller, Subban, Desharnais, Weber and now White are all contributing to the Habs success in a big way on a nightly basis. If Martin is going to get the flames when he bungles youth management, he needs to be praised when they play well.

Martin may not be the guy with the intangibles of creativity, and adaptability that are so essential in the playoffs, but if not for his dull, boring system, the Canadiens are likely not where they are today. While Price’s spectacular play is far and away the biggest reason why the Habs are 1 point behind the Bruins with 10 games to go, “the system” is the second reason. I’m ready for an appetizer of crow, as I’ve spent a lot of time hammering Martin over the past two seasons. Results count in this league. Everyone is accountable for their results, and people should be praised and reprimanded appropriately. He’s still not “my guy”, and I would still like to see him replaced with a more progressive coach before his 4 year contract expires, but for now, the Canadiens are winning and that shouldn’t be tampered with. Should the Canadiens repeat last season’s playoff success, I’ll be ready for the main course of crow.

There’s a lot to like about this Habs team. An awful lot. While fans of other teams may not see it that way, and may accuse the Habs of being a team that relies on underhanded stick work to defend themselves instead of doing things the “honourable way”, we know better. The Canadiens were a soft, easy team to play against for too long. Opposing teams used to love coming to Montreal to play. The atmosphere was great, and quite often the visitors left with 2 points in the bank and basked in Montreal’s nightlife afterwards. We don’t hear that as much any more. Now the Habs are developing some top-end skill, they have elite goaltending, and they’re becoming difficult to play against. This may irritate other teams and their fans who had become accustomed to seeing the Habs retreat in the face of adversity, but what this tells me is that the Canadiens are very much heading in the right direction.

Now, if only the Alaskan Albatross would get his act together.

Tags: habs \ Montreal Canadiens \ NHL