Blueliners Are Leading Canadiens' Revival

P.K. Subban started off the shortened season unsigned. Now he is tied for fourth place among NHL defencemen with 18 points in 20 games and a plus-4 rating. Meanwhile, the Canadiens are atop the Eastern Conference with 38 points in 26 games, and they appear to have firmly put the debacle of last season behind them.

Habs-watchers would rather not remember 2011-12, when they finished dead last in the conference and put in one of their worst full-season performances of recent times. Their home and road splits are envious (8-3-2 at the Bell Centre, 9-2-2 on the road), they’ve won three in a row and six of their last 10. They also possess the third-best goal differential in the conference at plus-18, and are behind only Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay for goals scored in the conference with 84. They’re on a roll.

Of their top four scorers, two are defencemen: Subban, of course, and power-play specialist Andrei Markov, who is right behind with 17 points (15 of them with the man advantage), but has also contributed with 34 blocked shots, good for third on the team: only Josh Georges (60) and Raphael Diaz (35) have more. Even Markov’s partner on the blueline, Alexei Emelin, normally considered a defensive defenceman, has chipped in with seven points in the last 10 games.

Before the season began, one of the club’s perceived stumbling blocks was thought to be the five-games-in-seven-days road trip which they’ve just completed. It started with a 3-2 deficit in Boston where they rallied for two goals in the third period and came away with a 4-3 victory against their hated rivals. They would go 4-1 on that road jaunt — it would have been perfect if not for an inexplicable collapse in New York in a 6-3 loss to the Islanders.

Some of the credit has to go to the new team: the one behind the bench and in the front office. General manager Marc Bergevin appears to have made the right moves by hiring Michel Therrien as head coach and re-acquiring winger Michael Ryder from Dallas, who led the Habs in points on their recent road swing.

Signing Brandon Prust from the Rangers has given the team the toughness it sorely needed; his plus-13 rating has to be a pleasant surprise as well. The team’s biggest test may be now, with Prust out for at least the next 10 days with a shoulder separation. While they may not be able to easily replace the grit Prust brings, they have the balance through their lineup and the goaltending of Carey Price to at least keep the club competitive most nights.