Since the firing of Guy Carbonneau, one can easily debate that Canadiens have not changed their ways, that they are still the same old Canadiens under Bob Gainey. Yes, it is true that we were still losing and that the team has been missing the emotion factor that Gainey has been talking about when Carbonneau was still coaching the Canadiens and after. However, nobody can argue the fact that the team has been much better defensively under Gainey than Carbonneau.

Even though the Canadiens have gone 2-3-3 under Gainey, they have been increasingly improving their play in their own end. In the game against the Devils, the Canadiens allowed a monstrous 48 shots against. This demonstrated that their biggest problems weren’t scoring but their lack of discipline and play in their own end. As they say, “the best offense is a good defense.” The next 5 games the shot totals against were 42, 32, 37, 25, and 19 respectively. In my opinion, a decrease from 48 to 19 in the total of shots against is a great improvement for a 6 game span. Gainey has always been a defense first player and coach, as well. The same went for Carbonneau, however, it seemed that he was lacking one important quality, the respect of his players.

The one thing that the Canadiens did not have, for a good 5 games under Gainey, was consistent goaltending. The last 2 games and the one against New Jersey are the exceptions. Gainey has emphasized that a team will have a hard time winning games if the goalie can’t keep the puck out of his net. When a goalie has a shaky game, that ripple spreads to the entire team. An early goal against will ultimately lead to a team’s performance to deteriorate. Just look at the game against Toronto, where the Canadiens allowed 4 unanswered goals in the first 30 minutes of the game. Although the Canadiens came within 2 goals at the end of the 2nd period, it was too big of a deficit to overcome.

Moreover, I believe the best thing Gainey has done, which Carbonneau failed to do, was unite the trio of Alex Kovalev, Saku Koivu, and Alex Tanguay. These three, since being put together on the first line, have combined for a total of 7 goals and 7 assists. More importantly, the Canadiens have also scored first in their last 2 games, something that they have barely done in the 6 previous ones.

All-in-all, the Canadiens have only 8 games to go and lead the Florida Panthers by only 2 points for the last playoff spot. If the Canadiens want to win they are going to have to keep playing the defense first system that Gainey has been implementing and have playoff emotion. They will have to not only play on a game to game basis, but more importantly, on a period-to-period one. March madness has begun for the Habs, for they will have to keep winning in order to keep their playoff hopes alive.

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