A Winning Habit
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Claude Julien’s Shuffling of the Top 3 Centremen Pays Dividends

By Sebastian High

CALGARY, AB - DECEMBER 19: Nick Suzuki #14 of the Montreal Canadiens scores against David Rittich #33 of the Calgary Flames to tie the game and force overtime during an NHL game at Scotiabank Saddledome on December 19, 2019 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Derek Leung/Getty Images)
CALGARY, AB - DECEMBER 19: Nick Suzuki #14 of the Montreal Canadiens scores against David Rittich #33 of the Calgary Flames to tie the game and force overtime during an NHL game at Scotiabank Saddledome on December 19, 2019 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Derek Leung/Getty Images) /
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Montreal Canadiens
MONTREAL, QC – OCTOBER 10: Montreal Canadiens  (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

The first half of Game 3 saw a rather stagnant Montreal Canadiens team; however, an electrifying performance ensued Claude Julie’s shuffling of his centres

With the exception of the opening seven minutes of Wednesday’s Game 3 of the qualifying round between the Montreal Canadiens and the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Habs played an ineffective game, looking lost out on the ice, contrasted by a hungry and capable Penguins team. Despite having gained an early lead, the Canadiens seemed unable to match the intensity of the Penguins and conceded three consecutive goals.

The first two games featured a Carey Price who stopped just about everything, and this game was no different, despite the three goals that snuck past him in the opening 26 minutes. The first pair occurred on consecutive Pittsburgh powerplays, with the first featuring a beautiful cross-ice fake shot pass from Evgeni Malkin to Patric Hornqvist and the second a nice pass through the slot from Bryan Rust to Jason Zucker. Both of these goals are difficult to pin on the Canadiens’ netminder as they required an explosive split-second post-to-post transition.

The third goal was a result of Victor Mete bobbling the puck and losing a race to Brandon Tanev, who passed the puck through the slot to Zach Aston-Reese, who was robbed point blank by Carey Price, but the ensuing rebound was forced in by Teddy Blueger. Following this third goal, the Canadiens continued to struggle, with Carey Price bailing them out time and time again.

All this is to say that Price continued his fine form in this game, despite the three shots that got past him and with any other goaltender in net for the Habs, they may very well have been down 5-1 after 30 minutes.

However, unlike many games through the past 10 years where Carey Price’s efforts were nullified by the Montreal Canadiens’ non-existent offensive threat, the Canadiens really stepped up their offensive play at the halfway point of the game, and this is primarily due to a bold shuffling of lines on the part of Claude Julien.

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