Andrew Shaw was just what the Montreal Canadiens needed
The Montreal Canadiens were in need of a shake-up and what Andrew Shaw did to spark the team worked given their performance ever since.
We need to be a team playing hard. Everyone. All lines, all D, goalie; everyone has to be playing their best every night. Lines are taking nights off, players are taking nights off. They don’t have that fight. It seems like it’s been an eternity since Andrew Shaw said those words about his team after the Montreal Canadiens blew a tough loss to the New York Islanders.
It got fans and members of the media talking, but for good measure. The Habs lost their jam, their mojo, their spunk, and it was continuing to cost them games and points in the standings to the point where they found themselves out of a playoff spot. Shaw said what he had to say and although the Canadiens were shutout in their next game against the Chicago Blackhawks, it looked as if the message of better play went received.
Since then, the Montreal Canadiens are 3-1-1 gaining seven of a possible ten points. Shaw chipped in offensively within that stretch putting up a goal and three assists as well as helping to drive the tempo up against the Buffalo Sabres over the weekend.
It hasn’t been perfect. The Habs stumbled against the Carolina Hurricanes leaving a point on the table. They had their moments throughout the night, but it would’ve been a very different outcome if it hadn’t been for Carey Price making a set of spectacular stops.
It’s a new week for the Montreal Canadiens, and this has been thrown around a lot, but they have their most important game of the year Thursday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Montreal has to channel everything Shaw said that night and build off what they’ve done in the last little stretch. It won’t ever be perfect; however, a solid effort and 60 minutes of competing are what have given the team success.
Last season when trade rumours were flying left and right, Shaw’s name was brought up. Marc Bergevin shut those rumours down voicing his reluctance to move him and that was met with some frustration from the fanbase. He was even a possibility from some to be traded at the beginning of the season to make room on the forward lines.
However, Bergevin valued his character, and this season proved that character could elevate his play as well as his teammates. Andrew Shaw is a focal point of the Montreal Canadiens, and if they manage to make it all the way, his words that night will be a highlight of this season.
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