The Habs are Hot!

  Everything is looking good in Montreal these days.  After an abysmal start to the season, the team has won seven of its last eight games and is climbing back into relevance in the powerful Eastern Conference.  At day 21, GM Rainville was questioning his off season game plan and even his approach to running the team as a whole.  It seemed enivitable that some players were going to have to leave the team to build for a better future.  Luckily, all it took was a few small moves to revitalise the entire group.

  Day 21 say the team sitting near the bottom of the standings.  We were a -6, posting a 9.09 shooting percentage and a 87.57 save pertcentage.  The PP was running at 14.81% and the PK at 80.77%.  We had 27 PP opportunities and 26 penalty kills with a +2 shot differential.  Fast forward sixty days and the numbers have changed for the better.  The team is now a +5 with a 10.16 shooting percentage and a 89.80 save percentage.  The PP is at 19.39% and the PK is at 83.95%.  We've had 98 PP opportunities vs only 81 against.  The team faceoff percentage is over 56% and the shot diffential is a whopping +52. 

  The Habs are hot and playing with a renewed sense of purpose and confidence.  So how did it happen?  Firstly, underperforming Patrick Kane was sent to Ottawa along with a 1st round pick and propect Kasper Kulonnumi for young Drake Batherson and veteran Tyler Bozak.  Batherson isn't producing as we had hoped but he has fit in on the 1st line nicely to replace Kane.  The next move sent Phil Danault to Florida in exchange for Pavel Zacha, Scott Laughton and Sam Montambeault.  Zacha has done well to replace Danault on the 3rd line and penalty kill.  Scott Laughton has been a wonderful addition.  He's been good in the faceoff circle and has allowed more flexibility throughout the lineup.  The biggest surprise has been Montambeault.  The young back up won his first five games a Canadiens posting a remarkable 1.90GAA and a 91.54 S%.  Mike Smith seems to have regained his form.  Perhaps sitting on the bench six games in a row inspired him.

  Times are good right now in Montreal.  The season looked completely lost on day 21.  A few tweaks to the personnel, a change in playing style and sixty days are all it took to radically change this year's outlook.  Over in Vegas, it has been rumored that GM Steve is watching non stop Habs' game footage trying to unlock the key to our success so that he doesn't have to taste defeat at the hands of his fiercest rival.  Apparently he hasn't slept in days and keeps muttering to himself "Not again, how does he do it".