Article content

They aren’t the Flying Frenchmen from the glory years — and they probably never will be — but this Canadiens team sure has been fun to watch through the first half of the NHL season.

The reason is simple: they can score.

Heading into Thursday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks, which marked the midway point of the season, the Canadiens were ranked 11th in the NHL in scoring, averaging 3.15 goals per game. It’s a dramatic improvement from last season, when the Canadiens ranked 29th with an average of 2.52 goals per game en route to finishing 28th in the overall NHL standings and missing the playoffs.

Last season, the Canadiens scored five or more goals 11 times. This season, they had already done it 12 times before facing the Canucks. Last season, the Canadiens were shut out a franchise-record 12 times. This season, they have only been blanked twice.

Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin and head coach Claude Julien knew they had to make changes after last season and they did. Bergevin brought in new players and Julien implemented a fast-paced system with some help from new assistant coaches Dominique Ducharme and Luke Richardson.