Montreal 0 Columbus 3 (Nationwide Arena)
“Tonight, we kept the foot on the gas. You have make sure you’re not just backing up and giving them 100 feet of ice. You want them to scratch and claw for everything they get. I thought tonight we did a good job of making them earn every inch of ice.” — Columbus coach Scott Arniel
MONTREAL, QC.– With all due respect, you have to wonder how the Blue Jackets do it? They have a lineup that beyond Rick Nash is devoid of stars. They play in front of a half-filled arena who have just strolled in from the fairways of the PGA — politely applaud at the right times but otherwise respect the “Quiet Please” signs of the marshalls.
The most noticeable change started last February with the dumping of old school head coach Ken Hitchcock. The trademark of his teams was a smothering defensive system. Hitchcock also was known as having difficulty relating to younger players — just ask Patrick Sharp, Simon Gagne, Derrick Brassard or Nikita Filatov.
Sound familiar?
In June, Columbus hired Scott Arniel, who along with Guy Boucher, was one of the most sought-after young coaching talents of the summer. Arniel has transformed the Jackets into an up-tempo, puck pursuit team. Like Boucher, Arniel is known as a superb power-play architect.
But perhaps the most significant impact of Arniel is what Nash describes as instilling confidence in the younger players of the team. Younger coaches like Arniel, Boucher and a recent visitor to the Bell Centre, Pete DeBoer, all three know how to motivate and get the best from their players.
In other words, they are the anti-Jacques Martin.
Tonight’s game against Columbus was similar in many ways to Saturday’s game against DeBoer’s Florida Panthers. The Canadiens squandered an early power-play opportunity. Buoyed by the kill the Blue Jackets scored 2:43 after the penalty expired, then for good measure added a power-play goal 1:23 later.
It was over. Game, set and match.
Oh sure, for two more periods we were treated to the line-juggling roulette wheel from coach Martin’s bag of motivational tools. But the guy who played the best for the Canadiens was at least 100 feet away from Martin’s influence. Carey Price wa superb as his teammates gave up one odd man rush after another.
The Habs were not prepared to be pressured at any point on the ice. They made poor decisions, committed turnovers and fired errant passes. The 5-on-5 offensive could not get on track and the league’s worst power-play continued to fire blanks.
It was a positive sign to see Lars Eller designated as a top six forward later in the game. But unfortunately the wheel slotted No. 81 alongside Tomas Plekanec and Mike Cammalleri. Andrei Kostitsyn was moved away from his most positive influence in Plekanec to lineing up with Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta.
With little going right Martin apparently wasn’t concerned about splitting up his best offensive line. Confusion reigned.
If fans are looking for innovative remedies, don’t expect any from the Canadiens coach. Following the game, Martin repeated a familiar refrain, “We’ll look at the video and analyze and see what we can bring as far as a solution for the next game.”
Plus/Minus:
▲ Carey Price is proving that he will continue to play at an extremely high level no matter what the Canadiens are doing in front of him.
▼ Hal Gill and Josh Gorges were both on the ice for all three Columbus goals. Gill had a particularly tough night with bad coverage and poor decisions.
▼ Max Lapierre and Dustin Boyd contributed nothing and were victimized for two Blue Jacket’s goals.
The Canadiens continue their road trip, playing in Buffalo on Friday before returning home to face the Senators at the Bell Centre on Saturday night.
All Habs game stars:
1. Carey Price
2. Andrei Markov
3. Andre Kostitsyn
Roster notes:
Ryan O’Byrne, Alexandre Picard and Tom Pyatt were healthy scratches.
(Photo by John Grieshop/Getty Images)