Well before he was the centre of a celebration, Alex Galcheyuk was in the middle of another kind of spirited gathering.
Galchenyuk is usually pretty good about briskly getting back to his own zone when the play heads that way, but as the Detroit Red Wings broke toward the Montreal Canadiens goal during the second period of Tuesday night’s tilt, the left winger had other business to tend to.
Detroit defenceman Kyle Quincey had been a pain in Galchenyuk’s posterior all evening and the latter decided it was time to directly confront the problem. Standing nose-to-nose with Quincey, Galchenyuk had the unmistakable body language of somebody who, to borrow a phrase from Jay-Z, was ready to get his “by any means” on.
Late in the game, Galchenyuk got tangled up with Quincey again, this time right on the lip of the Wings crease. In that instance, with just 3:09 left in the third, the 20-year-old unhinged himself, found the puck and quickly swept behind the net for a wrap-around equalizer that teed up a 2-1 overtime win for his team.
The goal was nice, but the gumption could indicate something even greater.
Optimism might be even easier to find than fun in Montreal these days, thanks to the Habs’ 6-1-0 start. And while the Canadiens’ stellar record does not paint an entirely accurate picture — they’ve trailed in all but one game, their goal differential is a humble plus-1 and three of their victories required extra time — the hopes stirred up by Galchenyuk’s point-per-game pace are entirely justified because the early-season performance has all the markings of a big-time breakout.
When the puck dropped on the 2014-15 campaign two weeks ago, Galchenyuk had 113 games worth of NHL experience accrued during the past two seasons. For the most part, he played modest, sheltered minutes without the benefit of power play time or offence-minded linemates. Now, as the third overall pick from 2012 embarks on his third year in the league, things are much different.
Galchenyuk is averaging roughly two additional minutes of ice per game over what he saw last year, when he netted 31 points in an injury-shortened 65-game showing. Skating beside centre Tomas Plekanec — who’s been freed up to play a much more offence-focused game thanks to the arrival of fourth-line faceoff whiz Manny Malhotra — Galchenyuk has put up three goals and four assists, registering at least a point in six of Montreal’s seven contests. His seven points slot him one behind Plekanec for the team lead, as the pair, alongside right winger P. A. Parenteau, form the Habs’ most productive trio.
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While his high-end pedigree made the 6-foot-1 Galchenyuk an obvious candidate to leap forward, the visible surge in confidence he’s experienced has surely gone a level beyond what was expected at this point. The kid was always going to start making great plays with the puck on a consistent basis, but the way Galchenyuk happily engaged in a physical confrontation with a veteran defenceman spoke volumes about his overall makeup.
These days, talent isn’t nearly enough to separate yourself in a league populated by maniacal young men who work endlessly to extract everything possible from their abilities. Galchenyuk has always had the mindset and disposition of somebody who expects the most from himself and burns to thrive in every situation.
Now, with a little snarl surfacing to complement the talent and work ethic, Galchenyuk is getting closer and closer to finding his top gear.
Montreal’s record over its next seven outings will almost certainly not be as sparkling as it’s been over the first seven. Bounces break both ways and, sooner or later, the Habs are going to have a few go against them. That’s the bad news.
The good news, though, is that when Montreal inevitably hits rougher terrain, it now has one more prime candidate to help the team pull through.