MONTREAL - It was in the midst of a 15-game goalless drought that Alex Galchenyuk finally felt that he was turning the corner on a difficult season - and a particularly rough patch within it.

The 24-year-old forward was demoted to fourth-line duty early on in the 2017-18 campaign and was making his rounds up and down the lineup as the days went on. Nevertheless, he was still making progress in terms of playing a more complete game and was steadily getting his scoring mojo back as the year ticked along.

Galchenyuk had some extra motivation to help him over the hump on March 2 when he celebrated his 400th career game in the NHL. He rose to the occasion, ending the long dry spell by registering his second career hat trick on five shots on goal, along with collecting a pair of takeaways and blocking a shot in a win over the Islanders.

Video: MTL@NYI: Galchenyuk nets hatty in 400th NHL game

"The last few months, I feel I've been playing my best hockey. The stats don't show it and that's what people focus on, but I can understand that, because honestly, I focus on it, too," Galchenyuk said following the 6-3 win over New York at Barclays Center. "But at the end of the day, I knew a game like this was going to come sooner or later, and I'm happy."

Head coach Claude Julien was also pleased with the American sniper's improved play after preaching all season long that defensive accountability would be an important component to complement the former third-overall pick's renowned scoring touch.

"I don't think there's any doubt that Alex is gifted offensively. That's his asset. The thing we've been working on a lot with him this year is trying to get him to be a little bit better without the puck, defending, closing plays, being better along the wall with pucks. He's worked hard at it. He's made some progress there," said Julien, who boosted Galchenyuk's ice time from 15:11 per game in the first half of the season to 17:15 in the second, before the Habs hit the road one last time in April. "We're not trying to change anything that's good for him. If anything, we like his offensive part, and I think he's still able to do more offensively. But we want him to continue to evolve and get better, and with the right attitude and work ethic, it's slowly happening."

Video: WSH@MTL: Galchenyuk dekes and scores on the backhand

Galchenyuk may have had a point when he said that his newfound two-way efforts weren't necessarily reflected in his numbers, but it's worth mentioning that his plus-minus differential went from minus-28 in his first 54 games of the season to a mere minus-3 over the final 28.

"I think I improved my game in certain areas, and will continue working on that," mentioned the Milwaukee native at the team's end-of-season media availability shortly after the Habs closed out the year with a 4-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. "It improved towards the second half. I got more opportunities and definitely improved my game."

Although his season may have gotten off to a rough start, Galchenyuk finished his sixth NHL campaign with 51 points (19G, 32A), second-most on the team behind Brendan Gallagher - and the second-highest total of his career.

Video: BOS@MTL: Galchenyuk nets 100th goal on power play

While the 6-foot-1, 207-pounder would likely be satisfied with those totals, the fact that the Canadiens struggled to string wins together and finished 28th in the overall standings put a real damper on his accomplishments.

"A lot of things went wrong, but I'm trying to be a positive person and look ahead. I don't want to spend that much time, wasting my time thinking about how badly things went," Galchenyuk explained. "I'm already thinking about next year, and taking time off to prepare for next year, not the mistakes we made as a team.

"It's like life in general. If you have a bad day, there's always a next day to make a difference. That's how I see it. We had a bad year, but there's next season to improve," he added. "Start fresh, start from scratch, and I already can't wait to be standing here talking to you next year."

Video: Alex Galchenyuk on his first full season under Julien