CANADIENS FINDING DIFFERENT WAYS TO WIN
Armia has strong defensive showing as club heads into break on 5-1-0 run
The first star in the Canadiens’ 2-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes was a forward who failed to earn a point.
It could very well have been someone who never stepped on the ice.
The Coyotes appeared to score the tying goal late in the third period when Alex Galchenyuk beat Carey Price seconds after the end of an Arizona power play.
As the Coyotes were celebrating, assistant coach Dominique Ducharme was getting a message from Mario Leblanc and Eric Gravel, the Canadiens’ video coaches.
“Dom was getting a message in his ear that it was offside, but I had to look at it, and what I saw was white space between the puck and the blue line,” said head coach Claude Julien, who issued what proved to be a successful challenge.
“I had to see it before I challenged, because if we were wrong, it would have been tied 2-2 and they would be back on the power play,” Julien said. “But I was confident because I saw it and I know the people in Toronto have better equipment.”
The No. 1 star on a night when Carey Price stood out with 30 saves was forward Joel Armia. If you look at the statistics, Armia came up empty on three shots, but it was his play in a defensive role that tipped the balance this night.
On the Coyotes’ first power play, he forced two turnovers, had a shot on goal and kept the Coyotes from launching a shot. And he controlled the puck at the end of the game when Arizona was pressing for a tie.
“He was so heavy on the puck, he killed the last 30 seconds,” captain Shea Weber said.
This was the Canadiens’ last game before an extended break, that includes time off for the all-star break and the team’s bye week, The Canadiens don’t practice again until Jan. 31, and their next games are the traditional Super Bowl weekend matinees when the New Jersey Devils and Edmonton Oilers are in town on Feb. 2-3.
The Canadiens have reason to believe they earned the rest. The win on Wednesday gave them a 5-1-0 record in their last six games and moved them into third place in the Atlantic Division with 61 points. They’re one point ahead of idle Boston, but the Bruins have two games in hand.
The Canadiens are one point back of second place Toronto and again, the Maple Leafs have played two fewer games.
“We’re in a good spot, we’ve positioned ourselves well, but we have to step up our game,” Julien said. “The thing I like about our game lately is that we have found ways to win. That’s part of the success.
“We talk a lot about 82 games, but we focused on this six-game segment. You can’t be perfect, you can’t win every game. We wanted to put ourselves in a position where we were still in a playoff position.
“We’ve had games where our goaltenders came up big and there have been games like the other night in Columbus, where we scored big goals at the right time,” Julien said.
While the Coyotes were no doubt disappointed to lose, Julien gave them credit for playing a strong game.
“You have to give Arizona credit because they were playing their third game in four nights, and they came in here after a tough game in Ottawa last night,” said Julien.
“They’re playing their best hockey. I think they’ve won six of eight, with a couple of ties. They did a great job, but we were able to find a way to win. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t perfect, but we find a way to win in different ways.” phickey@postmedia.com Twitter.com/zababes1
The thing I like about our game lately is that we have found ways to win. That’s part of the success.