BROSSARD, Que.—Rest is a luxury, and the Montreal Canadiens have earned it.
The Canadiens had a practice scheduled for Wednesday morning. If there was pause about canceling it so the team could perhaps iron out what saw them allow 17 shots and get out-chanced by a wide margin in the first period of Tuesday’s 3-0 win over St. Louis, it was reconsidered by 10:30 a.m.
The on-ice session was replaced by a stretching routine and some video review. Some players were then made available, and the mood among them was understandably light.
Montreal’s execution has been near flawless through seven straight wins to start the season. They haven’t allowed a goal in the first period, they haven’t trailed in a game with the exception of three minutes and three seconds against the Detroit Red Wings last Saturday, and they’ve outscored the opposition 11-1 in the third period.
"I think rest is 98 per cent of that," said Dale Weise with a chuckle. "To be able to play the style that we play it’s extremely demanding, it’s fast, it’s not necessarily physically tolling—we’re not going out there and smashing teams—but we play fast."
The conservation of energy hasn’t solely been a function of canceled or optional practices; it’s largely been the result of everyone on the team being implicated in games.
Canadiens coach Michel Therrien has been rolling his lines without any concern over matchups. His "fourth" line of Torrey Mitchell, Brian Flynn and Devante Smith-Pelly has played against the opposition’s best forwards on a nightly basis. His "second" defence pairing of Jeff Petry and Alexei Emelin took heavy minutes away from thoroughbreds Andrei Markov and P.K. Subban Tuesday. And his "third" line of Weise, David Desharnais and Tomas Fleischmann has combined for 10 points and a plus-five rating.
With their energy waning in a disjointed first period against St. Louis, Canadiens goaltender Carey Price turned miracles while top liners Max Pacioretty, Tomas Plekanec and Brendan Gallagher worked together to put the team up a goal headed into intermission.
"Pricey said, ‘we’re up one and we got away with it, now let’s go play’," said defenceman Nathan Beaulieu.
The team took Price’s advice and out-shot the Blues 25-21 and scored two goals in the final two frames of the game.
"Bad periods are going to happen, bad hockey games are going to happen, bad stretches of hockey games are going to happen…but we found a way to win against a good hockey team," said Beaulieu. He added that in his estimation, his team’s ability to refocus itself rather than dwell on a bad period of hockey speaks to the maturity and confidence that’s been established.
It’s a confidence that leaves Montreal’s coaching staff with no reservation about canceling practice.
"We know this in our room, but people are going to take notice that when we’re well rested there aren’t many teams that can play with us," said P.K. Subban Monday.
The rested Canadiens will resume practice Thursday before traveling to Buffalo for a game against the Sabres Friday. They’ll be back home Saturday to play the second half of back-to-back games when they welcome the Toronto Maple Leafs.
