Written by Kelsey Patterson at CBC.ca
Michel Therrien liked what he saw from the Montreal Canadiens’ power play, but he’s going to keep tinkering with it.
Looking to jump-start Montreal’s stalled power play, Therrien shuffled some players around and that was the difference as the Canadiens defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 3-1 on Monday night to extend their winning streak to four games.
The main change was putting forward Alexander Radulov on the point with Shea Weber on Montreal’s first power-play wave. That new strategy paid dividends in the third period when Brendan Gallagher tipped Radulov’s shot from the point past Steve Mason at 13:08 to break the 1-1 deadlock.
“We still need to work on it, we need a little more chemistry,” said Therrien. “It would have been too easy to go back to the old formula, but we wanted to stick with our four forwards and one defenceman, and they’re the ones who won it for us tonight.”
Successful experiment
Therrien felt a change was necessary as the Canadiens came into the game 3 for 21 with the man advantage, 20th in the NHL.
The experiment looked to have backfired though as Montreal went 0 for 3 to start the game. But Gallagher needed just four seconds into the team’s fourth opportunity of the night to deflect Radulov’s shot into the net.
“They won the faceoff there and Weber’s set up for a one-timer, so there’s that option,” said Mason, describing Montreal’s winner. “But he gives it right back to Radulov. And he shoots it, and I got a good line on it, but Gallagher got his stick on there and changed the direction in front of me.”
The goal was a just reward for Radulov, who was dangerous throughout the encounter. The Russian finished with an empty-net goal, two assists, five hits, and he drew a penalty in the second period.
“It was different because I haven’t played a lot in that spot,” said Radulov of his position at the point. “But with a partner like Shea Weber it’s easy. I always try to look to my right to give him the puck because he has a bomb and we have to use that more.”
Radulov also got an assist on Montreal’s first goal of the night. Weber put Montreal on the board at 5:28 of the second period with his second goal of the season.
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