Montreal Canadiens

Symmetry, at last

With the Canadiens hold on a playoff position becoming more fragile, Carbonneau reached in to his all familiar line up juggling, and finally came up with line combinations, and defense pairings that made sense. Although it took 66 games, the lineup that pulled out a crucial win in Dallas, appears to have the capabilities of salvaging a season that was spiraling out of control.

Carbonneau, finally recognized that separating Kovalev and Kostitsyn could bring greater offensive upside to the Habs. Kostitsyn’s greatest attribute, his heavy shot was perfectly complemented by the play making abilities of linemates, Koivu and Tanguay. Kostitsyn’s game tying goal, marked his 30th point when not playing on a line with Kovalev, versus only 9 points when teamed up with AK27. Tanguay, a deft passer who sees the ice exceptionally well matches well with Kostitsyn, a puck control type of player. Kostitsyn’s development was being negated when paired with Kovalev, a player with similar attributes. Both players need to be the go to guy on their lines. Splitting the two apart results in a greater offensive dimension for the Habs.

The decision to move Chris Higgins down to the third line alongside Lapierre and Kostopolous, created the possibility of a fairly productive checking unit with some offensive capabilities. Without the pressure of being a top 6 forward, Higgins was able to utilize his best attributes, strong skating, an ability to eliminate time and space from the opposition puck carrier, and a perseverance to get into prime scoring areas. His play seemed to reawaken the efectiveness of Lapierre, who had been struggling in all three zones on the ice in recent games.

The much maligned defense, had as a unit one of their most effective games in weeks. Carbonneau wisely split up the pairing of Komisarek and Hamrlik, a duo that had all sorts of difficulties in puck zone clearance, late reactions to developing plays, and getting beaten in a majority of one on one battles. Hamrlik and O’Bryne formed an effective duo. In recent gmaes, O’Bryne has played a steady, sound positional game behind the blueline. Komisarek seemed to benefit from his partner, Gorges, who showed strong mobility and tenacious work along the boards.

For all the new line combos, and defense pairings, Carbonneau’s determination to start Carey Price for a third game in a row was perhaps the most impactful. Price was 2-10-1, in his past 11 starts, and had a save percentage of 860. Despite a solid effort against Atlanta, the fact was another loss with Price in goal. A return to Halak, who had won 4 in a row, and perfomed at a superb level in all those wins, would have been an easy decision. Carbo, like Gainey staked much of his future on the struggling franchise player, and was rewarded for the move. Back to back games Price looked composed, square to the shooter, moving economically in net, and handling the puck with confidence. Unlike many games during his slump, Price was tracking the puck extremely well. The encouraging aspect for the Canadiens, is that both goalies seem to be in a zone right now, which should translate to added confidence for their teammates.

For all of the personnel moves, perhaps the most impactful play, that could lead to a turnaround in the teams fortunes, was Gregory Stewart’s resolution to engage Steve Ott in a fight late in the first period. Up until that point, the Habs were being totally dominated by the Stars. The Canadiens had come out lifeless, ran into penalty trouble, and fell behind in the game. To make matters worse, Ott was running roughshod over the Canadiens.Ott was exacting a major physical toll on a number of Canadiens, and his antics were adding to the momentum in favour of Dallas. Stewart flattened Ott, and then gained a decision over the Star’s player in the ensuing fight. After the Habs killed of the ensuing Dallas powerplay, the momentum started to shift to the Habs. As the game progressed, Ott was not nearly as effective, and energy started to return to the Habs game. Stewart’s presence, is making Laraque more irrelevant with each passing game.

The victory in Dallas, is something the team can build upon. Quality goaltending, once again outstanding penalty killing, and the emergence of 4 forward units that make sense in terms of player combinations playing to one anothers strengths. With 10 of the next 11 games at home, against a number of opponents that the Canadiens match up well, could create some belief that the team is capable of pulling together for a strong finish.There is still much to work on, but the Canadiens showed some push back in Dallas, which was encouraging. Hopefully, Carbo will have the confidence to maintain the line combinations for a period of time, and allow for some synchronicity to take hold, for a team that has been searching for it for a prolonged period of time.