Galchenyuk suddenly at centre of attention
Coach Julien praises forward’s game and hints he might move to middle
RALEIGH, N.C. Desperate times call for desperate measures. With that in mind, don’t be shocked to see Alex Galchenyuk playing centre again with the Canadiens.
Galchenyuk scored the only goal for the Canadiens in a 3-1 loss to Carolina Wednesday night and was in the penalty box when Sebastian Aho scored the winning goal for the Hurricanes in the third period. But coach Claude Julien — who hasn’t been shy in the past to criticize Galchenyuk’s play — praised him after the game and called Galchenyuk’s holding penalty a borderline call.
“I think Alex came to play tonight and when he comes to play it shows,” Julien said about Galchenyuk, who had three shots on goal in 15:45 of ice time while playing left wing on a line with Phillip Danault at centre and Andrew Shaw on the right.
“We’ve said that for a long time. He’s got good skill level and he’s a guy that can certainly shoot the puck, so he’s got a lot going for him. So I hope it’s a start of what we’re going to see from here on in because I liked his game tonight.
“We’ve got him on the wing, it doesn’t mean we’ll never see him at centre if there’s a need for it,” Julien added. “So we’re keeping our options open.”
That’s a big change in thinking for Julien, who has insisted along with GM Marc Bergevin since the team’s golf tournament in the summer that Galchenyuk can’t play centre.
However, it’s becoming obvious there is little if any chemistry between centre Jonathan Drouin and captain Max Pacioretty, who played with Paul Byron Wednesday night on the No. 1 line. Pacioretty has now gone 10 games without a goal and has only one in the last 19, while Drouin has no goals and one assist in the last seven games and won only four of 11 faceoffs against the Hurricanes.
“I don’t know if it’s chemistry … maybe having more of a nose to bring pucks to the net,” Julien said about Drouin and Pacioretty. “You look at tonight and Dru had a bunch of turnovers and you can’t play that way. You need to make sure that you’re managing the puck well instead of maybe looking for those fancy passes. Sometimes you got to do it the right way and throw some pucks at the net and make sure that your teammates know that that puck is going to the net and that’s where you score goals. I think we can get better in that area.”
In his search for a centreman who can produce some offence, Julien put Charles Hudon between Nicolas Deslauriers and Daniel Carr on the fourth line against the Hurricanes and Hudon responded with a team-high four shots, although he struggled on faceoffs, winning only one of four. Centres Byron Froese and Jacob de la Rose were both made healthy scratches as Hudon returned to the lineup after being a scratch the previous two games.
“I didn’t expect to play centre when I woke up this morning, but it created an opportunity,” said Hudon, who added he played a little bit of centre when he was in the AHL.
The Canadiens saw their record fall to 16-17-4 and they are now nine points out of the third and final playoff spot in the Atlantic Division and eight points behind in the wild-card race.
“I think we can do a lot better,” Julien said in an understatement. “It’s a matter of how much you want to throw pucks at the net, how much you want to go there and make those things happen.
“I thought in the second period we were a pretty good hockey club and third period it was see-saw back and forth and then we gave up that power-play goal. But you got to learn to win those tight games, or at least come out with a point. You give up that goal halfway through the third and we need to find ways to reply and score some goals and one’s not good enough in this league to win hockey games. So we need to be better.”
Maybe Galchenyuk at centre can help.
At this point, it’s definitely worth a try.
I hope it’s a start of what we’re going to see from here on in because I liked his game tonight.