Cunneyworth's Stepped "Outside the Box" January 9, 2012, 8:54 AM ET [ Comments] Habs Talk

Montreal Canadiens Blogger • Archive • CONTACT Montreal Canadiens Blogger • RSS

1) Two crucial home wins; consecutive wins over porous road-teams from Winnipeg and Tampa Bay, respectively; four points on the steep climb towards the playoff picture... not much to lament in all of that.



In one game, the team managed seven goals, four of them scored by Lars Eller.



In the next one, Michael Blunden stepped up to score his first goal as a Montreal Canadien. A native Montrealer, who rode the emotional high of the Habs old/new goal song. Max Pacioretty scored just his third goal in his last 20 games. But what a relief, this one went in and proved to be the winner. And David Desharnais and Erik Cole provided the consistency they've marked their respective seasons with, by scoring the insurance marker.



2) So the question is, which game do you prefer?



Is it the one where the Canadiens took a 2nd-period lead and turned it into a 3rd period explosion?



Or is it the one in which the Canadiens finally proved they can lock down a 1-goal lead; perhaps the most crucial skill to perfect in the most competitive hockey league in the world?



3) Alright... I know you preferred the one where Eller scored four goals and celebrated after the game like the Beatles on a curtain call.



But, I'll tell you, the Tampa one on Saturday was more important for the team's fragile confidence.



4) Since we've already entertained the cycle of breaking down the Canadiens seven-goal bonanza against the Jets, let's evaluate their performance against Tampa:



-Allowed the first goal against; a nap taken by Chris Campoli, who gave Dominic Moore time and space in an area of the ice where he didn't deserve it, and then a wide gap between Alexei Emelin and Vincent Lecavalier conspired to give Carey Price a fit with a puck fired from the half-boards.



It was a horrible goal, 3:24 into a game that could've gone any other way than the way it did thereafter.



-Blunden's effort 5:44 into the second cemented a strong performance by the team after allowing the first goal so early in the game.



They got their bearings in the first period, committed to an aggressive forecheck and a very aggressive backcheck, and that really set the tone for the rest of the game.



-And after popping three goals in less than 55 seconds on Wednesday, against the Jets, the Habs found their quick-strike offense against the Lightning. Pacioretty's goal came 1:34 after Blunden's.



-Shots in the third period: 9-7 Montreal.



-Scoring chances in the third period: 4-1 Montreal (subjective, of course. They don't officially keep those stats, but you watched, right?).



-Score in the third period: 1-0 Montreal.



5) With the exception of allowing the game's first goal, it was as dominant performance as you can have, holding onto a one-goal lead before scoring the insurance marker with 17-seconds remaining. Bonus that Cole's 17th (stolen from Desharnais) wasn't scored on an empty net (well...it sorta was).



6) Carey Price out-goaltended Mathieu Garon, even though the latter had a tougher load to deal with.



The Canadiens out-hustled the Lightning in all the important areas of the ice, and got strong commitments from guys that have taken too many nights off this season. Guys like Tomas Plekanec, Mike Cammalleri and Brian Gionta, the latter two having played less than any other forward in the top-9.



They out-hit the Lightning 28-15, with Emelin laying out the body seven times in the game. Not bad for a guy that took a mouthful of puck in practice the day before.



Highlight of the game was a run taken by Ryan Malone at Emelin, which resulted in Malone getting bounced hard to the ice.



And, the Habs won 54% of the faceoffs.



7) Subtlety of Cunneyworth's coaching style, he's quite good at recognizing who's going, and he rewards ice-time according to that.



In an ideal situation, you give your veterans the brunt of the work, if only to extract performance from them and establish their leadership as a habit.



The vets have gotten their rope enough this year, and most have them have burned both ends of it.



And, having to climb back into the playoff picture from the abyss requires playing your best players, not playing your best players according to the depth chart.



That's why Lars Eller played 20:00, Andrei Kostitsyn played 20:32, and Travis Moen played 18:13.



That's why after 27+minutes against the Jets, Erik Cole logged another 18:13 against Tampa.



That's why Hal Gill finished at +1 after 10:33. Not too much penalty killing to do against the Lightning, and not too much 5-on-5 ice-time required of Gill, who's been susceptible in speed match-ups this season.



8) Getting back to Cunneyworth's worth, and the faceoffs:



Plekanec won 53% of his, Desharnais won 58% of his, and Eller won 50% of his. That's a lot more puck-possession for the Habs, when you consider they were the only three players taking faceoffs for their team in this game.



Not enough scoring?



Too many defensive mistakes?



Fine. For problem #1, take a player off the fourth line, and double shift a forward; hence Cole's absurd ice-time against Winnipeg.



Still on problem #1, can't ice a forward for 27+ minutes every night, so take out the fourth line centre and double shift your other three down the middle all night.



We call that "thinking outside of the box", to borrow the phrase from a certain Mr. YouKnowHisName.



Problem #2: Dress seven defensemen, eliminate Kaberle and Gill from minutes they can't handle, (include Campoli in that mix), manage Subban to be around the time he plays best 23-24 minutes/night, and don't overextend Diaz and Emelin to match-ups they can't handle.



Almost perfect.



The Canadiens aren't playing a different brand of hockey. It's still defense-first. But the subtleties have them aggressive when they need to be. Confidence is slowly building. Trust is slowly being regained.



And you might say that assessment is jumping the gun after two-straight wins, but the points still stick if you've watched the games attentively.



Randy Cunneyworth knows how to adjust mid-game, and the players are responding to those adjustments.



9) Product of that?



I think it's lighting a fire under the vets. Plekanec wants to be out for that important draw at the end of the game. Cammalleri wants to be the guy shooting on a set play to tie the game with seconds left. Gionta wants to be the guy eating a puck at the defensive blue line, just to seal an important victory.



They won't be counted on for those things unless they're playing to their potential. And playing to their potential means outperforming Eller, Desharnais and Kostitsyn.



Can you guess how Scott Gomez will be used if he returns as the same player he's been over the last year and a half?



I can...



10) Alright. Habs beat two teams that are abysmal on the road.



Can they play the same against a St. Louis team that's tied for 2nd in the Western Conference?



Well... the Blues are 12th in the West, on the road.



But this game will be all about Jaroslav Halak's return and his match-up with Carey Price.



And then it's another meeting with the Boston Bruins.



Let's see how far this new-found enthusiasm can take the Habs.