A HABITUAL START
The Canadiens have yet to lose a game in regulation, and they look like they’re built for the long haul,
A controversial, intensely debated trade. A franchise player coming off a serious injury. The shadow of a legendary former player available for hire.
These were three massive issues facing Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin going into this season, each one of them capable of derailing his best-laid plans for a bounce-back season after last year’s disaster.
Would the Shea Weber-for-P.K. Subban trade work out in Montreal’s favour? Would Carey Price be back to his old self after missing almost all of last season? And would the spectre of Patrick Roy hang over the team as a possible coaching replacement, or even Bergevin’s replacement, if the club didn’t start well?
So far, none of the three issues has been a negative consideration at all. Of course, when you’re 7-0-1 out of the gate, a record third straight year the Habs have lost only one of their first eight games, problems are what other teams have.
After knocking off Tampa Bay 3-1 at the Bell Centre on Thursday night, the biggest question facing the Habs — and it’s hardly a major problem — is whether 18-year-old defence prospect Mikhail Sergachev should head back to the OHL Windsor Spitfires after being scratched for a fourth straight game.
Beyond that, it’s all roses and bliss right now, with the high-scoring, high-possession, two-win Maple Leafs arriving in town Saturday for an early season Hockey Night in Canada matchup that will spur all kinds of conversations about hockey’s two most famous teams.
In Toronto, being a bottom feeder for years has delivered excitement in Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander, but it would appear there’s going to be a lot more losing before a playoff berth is reality.
The Habs are a great deal closer to accomplishing something meaningful. They’ve played a cat-and-mouse game with the lower rungs of the NHL, using lousy seasons to grab the likes of Alex Galchenyuk (third overall, 2012) and Sergachev (ninth last June), but in between getting to the Eastern Conference final in 2014. This year’s squad, strengthened so far by the off-season additions of Weber, Andrew Shaw and Alexander Radulov, seems entirely capable of getting to the Stanley Cup final.
Weber leads the team in scoring while playing almost 26 minutes a game. His plus-12 stands in stark contrast to Subban’s minus-6 in the early going for the struggling Nash- ville Predators, allowing the antiSubban faction in Montreal to gloat.
Price, needless to say, is once more the foundation, although his new backup, Al Montoya, actually has put up better numbers in his four appearances than Price has in his. The Habs have needed the goaltending; they’ve allowed the most shots in the league. It’s also worth noting a PDO (save percentage plus shooting percentage) of 105.73 isn’t sustainable.
But the presence of Price is something you can’t quantify, an individual confidence booster matched only by Sidney Crosby, and perhaps Connor McDavid, in the league. While many speculate the World Cup “bounce” has fuelled earlyseason scoring in the league because the top 200 players came into the season with the head start of that intense international competition, it might be that the Habs have benefitted more than anyone from that event.
It allowed Price to prove to himself, by backstopping Canada to the title before the NHL season, that he was back where he needed to be, and it allowed Weber to begin his career with the Canadiens at full speed.
Against the Lightning, the Habs spotted the Bolts the first goal of the game late in the second, but then Price made a spectacular save on Ondrej Palat in the first minute of the third to thwart Tampa’s attempt to get up by two. A weak call on Nikita Nesterov for throwing Brendan Gallagher to the ice after Gallagher jabbed several times at the puck after the whistle created a Montreal power play, and Galchenyuk tied the game with a pretty onetimer. Captain Max Pacioretty potted the eventual winner later in the period and Torrey Mitchell added a third, again giving Montreal a balanced attack. So far, 13 Habs have scored at least once.
The open question is whether Montreal can bring the Stanley Cup back to Canada for the first time since 1993 without a dominant superstar forward like Crosby, Anze Kopitar or Patrick Kane. Galchenyuk may be on the verge of becoming that star attacker after a 30-goal campaign last year. The Canadiens, 16th in offence last year, are scoring a full goal a game more this season.
For now, meanwhile, there’s nary a whisper about the availability of Roy, who left Colorado in stunning fashion late in the season and was immediately tabbed as the successor to Michel Therrien behind the Montreal bench if the Habs faltered early. Of course, this being Montreal, a three-game losing streak is all that stands between this state of quiet and calls for St. Patrick to come in and play saviour.
As it stands, for a third straight season, Montreal owns October. Two years ago, that led to a playoff win over Ottawa before being dumped in the second round by the Lightning. Last year, it didn’t even generate a playoff berth.
This fab start, you have to believe, has to lead to a lot more next April, a conference final at the very least. The Canadiens are surely going for the Cup. Damien Cox is the co-host of Prime Time Sports on Sportsnet 590 The FAN. He spent nearly 30 years covering a variety of sports for the Star. His column appears Tuesday and Saturday. Follow him @DamoSpin.