Habs show grit on road

[Spider-Man NL]

PAT HICKEY

The Gazette

Monday, December 15, 2003

Meat Loaf, the rotund rocker, once suggested that "two out of three ain't bad."

As the Canadiens resume practising at the Bell Centre this morning, they probably have mixed feelings about that statement.

The Canadiens are sitting in a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference after winning two out of three games on their most recent road trip, which ended Saturday night when they beat the Lightning 5-2 in Tampa.

"We came in here against a tough Tampa Bay team and salvaged our road trip," said defenceman Sheldon Souray, who collected three assists in the win.

But the Canadiens are all too aware this trip could have been even better. On Friday night, Saku Koivu and Richard Zednik scored first-period goals to give the Canadiens a 2-0 lead over Florida, but the Panthers roared back for a 4-2 win as they buried the Canadiens under a 49-shot barrage.

The good news is the Canadiens are establishing a presence on the road. The win in Tampa gave them a 4-1-1 record in their last six road games. And they are over .500 for the season because of a 7-6-1-1 road record. They are 7-7-2 at home going into tomorrow's Bell Centre matchup against the Boston Bruins (7:30 p.m., RSE, RDS, CJAD Radio-800).

System isn't working: In an era where there is much talk about defence and systems, the Canadiens' recent success - they are 6-3-2 in their last 11 games - is interesting because the team's commitment to defence has been sporadic at best. The 49-shot barrage in Florida represented a season-high, but the Canadiens have allowed more than 30 shots in eight of those 11 games. Claude Julien's defensive system aims to limit opponents to a shot total in the low-to-mid 20s.

The result is a familiar story where goaltender José Theodore has once again emerged as the line of last defence. Theodore, who won the Hart and Vézina Trophies two seasons ago, has a middling goals-against average of 2.27, but his save percentage of .923 is much more impressive.

Penalty-killing much improved: But there are some other encouraging signs and the biggest improvement has been in the team's penalty-killing unit. At first glance, the Canadiens are a disaster in this area. They rank 27th among the 30 NHL teams with a success rate of 80.8 per cent.

"The situation is similar to last season," Julien noted. "We got off to a bad start, but we have made improvements in our special teams."

Julien concedes the team's penalty-killing record for the entire season may not be impressive, but he insists the key is to get better and the Canadiens have accomplished that. Before their Nov. 20 game in Calgary, the penalty-killing units had a meeting to hash out their problems and the result has been a more aggressive approach. Since that game, the Canadiens have allowed only four goals in 40 opportunities for a success rate of 90 per cent. Over the same period, the Canadiens' power-play unit has climbed from 25th to 20th in the league standings and has scored eight goals.

phickey@thegazette.canwest.com