Cornwall ON – I have to give coach Jacques Martin credit. PK Subban was sat out again for a second night, this time against the San Jose Sharks and the Habs still won, 3-1.
As great as stars are hockey is very much a team sport and the coach is proving that with his handling of the team, or showcasing Yannick Weber for a trade….
People don’t give Roman Hamrlik enough credit. The journey man d man who many wanted off the team because of his cap hit has been the glue that’s kept Montreal rolling this year, mostly filling the shoes of Andrei Markov as best he can.
If you look at the Habs record without Markov and without Hamrlik in the lineup over the last 3 seasons you can see the trend. The defense on the whole have been amazing this year for Montreal and the big reason they keep winning and rolling as their top six forward squad has been limping with Scott Gomez not putting up points or clicking with the second line.
Montreal currently is 3rd in the conference with a +18 which is pretty darn good no matter how you cut it. Doing so without Markov and essentially without Gomez and some guys floating through with no production gives even more kudos to the coaching staff and team play of Montreal.
Philly beat New Jersey 5-3; Toronto edged Boston 3-2 in the shoot out; Buffalo shut out Ottawa 1-0; Atlanta kept their winning ways rolling with their 3-1 over Washington; Pittsburgh blasted Columbus 7-2.
Tampa Bay won a shoot out with Colorado 6-5; Nashville nipped Carolina 5-2; Dallas 4 Minnesota 3; Florida needed the shoot out to beat Phoenix 2-1; Edmonton beat St. Louis and Jaroslav Halak 2-1 in OT; and Anze Kopitar scored the winner for LA in OT in their 3-2 win over Detroit.
