Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis didn\u2019t like the way his team started last Tuesday night\u2019s game at the Bell Centre against the Carolina Hurricanes.<\/p>\n
The Hurricanes outshot the Canadiens 16-4 in the first period, but were only leading 2-1 thanks to goalie Jakub Dobes.<\/p>\n
After the game \u2014 which the Canadiens won 5-2 with Dobes making 41 saves \u2014 I asked St. Louis if he said something to his players in the locker room after the first period.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I sure did,\u201d he said without expanding on the answer.<\/p>\n
But what St. Louis heard the players saying on the bench during that first period and for the rest of the game was more important than what he said during the first intermission.<\/p>\n
Four years into a rebuilding plan, the Canadiens players fully understand what St. Louis expects from them and are usually able to correct themselves, not afraid to call each other out on the bench.<\/p>\n
The Canadiens took a season-high five-game winning streak into Tuesday\u2019s game against the Lightning in Tampa (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS) and were in third place in the Atlantic Division with a 42-21-10 record and 94 points, four points behind the Lightning (46-21-6) and the Buffalo Sabres (45-21-8). The Canadiens were 17 points ahead of their pace from last season when they had a 34-30-9 record after 73 games and ended up making the playoffs for the first time in four years, earning the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with a 40-31-11 record for 91 points.<\/p>\n
The Canadiens\u2019 odds of making the playoffs for a second straight year were 99.7 per cent, according to the Hockey-Reference website<\/a>, before facing the Lightning. The Canadiens ranked sixth in the overall NHL standings and had a 20-8-8 road record.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can hear the bench talk,\u201d St. Louis said after the Canadiens came back to beat the Hurricanes last Tuesday. \u201cObviously, I\u2019m talking, too. It\u2019s not just me. You can hear the players talk \u2014 how it\u2019s not good enough and let\u2019s do more of that or more of this.<\/p>\n \u201cYou try to get it back one shift at a time, one action at a time,\u201d St. Louis added. \u201cI feel like we\u2019ve been able to do that, and sometimes you just need the period to end, and hopefully you didn\u2019t get hurt too much. That was a big goal that (Oliver Kapanen) scored (before the first period ended). And then you can kind of come up for air, talk a little bit and get back at it. I think that\u2019s what we did.\u201d<\/p>\n The Canadiens did it again Sunday in Carolina when they beat the Hurricanes 3-1 after being outshot 13-6 in the first period. It was a franchise-record 25th comeback win. The Canadiens had 24 comeback wins in 1975-76 and 1992-93 and ended both those seasons by hoisting the Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n Before facing the Lightning, the Canadiens had a 14-4-3 record in their last 21 games while getting some outstanding goaltending from Dobes and Jacob Fowler. In his last 20 games, dating to Dec. 14, Dobes had a 15-3-2 record with a 2.48 GAA and a .911 save percentage.<\/p>\n Getting that kind of goaltending has boosted the Canadiens\u2019 confidence that they can come back in games \u2014 even when they start very slowly.<\/p>\n Heading into Tuesday\u2019s games, the Canadiens ranked third in the NHL in offence, scoring an average of 3.51 goals per game. With 26-65-91 totals, captain Nick Suzuki ranked eighth in NHL scoring and is the first Canadien to hit 90 points since Pierre Turgeon had 96 and Vincent Damphousse had 94 in 1995-96. Cole Caufield had scored 25 goals in his last 25 games and with 46 goals has a chance to become the Canadiens\u2019 first 50-goal scorer since St\u00e9phane Richer scored 51 in 1989-90. Lane Hutson had 62 assists and needed five more in the last nine games to break Larry Robinson\u2019s franchise record for most assists by a defenceman in a season. The Hall of Fame rearguard had 66 assists in 1976-77. Juraj Slafkovsky celebrated his 22nd birthday on Monday and ranks second all-time in franchise history for points (including playoffs) before turning 22 with 177, two behind Hall of Famer Henri Richard.<\/p>\n The future is looking very bright for the Canadiens.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we trust the brand that we want to play,\u201d veteran defenceman Mike Matheson said. \u201cWe trust that once we do find that brand, we\u2019ll have success. So it\u2019s not really about, \u2018Will it work?\u2019 We know that we just need to find it, and then things will start clicking.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely important,\u201d Matheson added about the players\u2019 ability to coach themselves. \u201cI feel like it\u2019s kind of a big story right now, but it\u2019s been something we\u2019ve been doing all year long.\u201d<\/p>\n When things are clicking, St. Louis can just watch from behind the bench as the players execute the system he has spent four years building.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a coach, you always try to\u00a0steer them,\u201d he said. \u201cIf it\u2019s quiet (on the bench) sometimes you have to lead. But I feel like there\u2019s times when you don\u2019t have to lead as a coach. The team is leading itself.\u201d<\/p>\n