How Canadiens overcame demanding schedule to produce third-period push against Rangers

MONTREAL The frenetic pace of the third period Sunday night as the Montreal Canadiens emptied the tank to try and tie the score against the New York Rangers for the fourth time of the night was impressive on its own.

It was an incredible show for the sold-out Bell Centre crowd, except for the strong contingent of Rangers fans who made the trip.

Advertisement But in the context of what the Canadiens have done since mid-December, it was literally incredible.

This game snapped a streak of 16 straight the Canadiens have played where they needed to get on a plane and change cities dating back to Dec.

12, a night when they got blown out 9-2 on home ice by the Pittsburgh Penguins , a turning point in their season.

The next day, the Canadiens got on a plane to Winnipeg, beginning this grueling stretch of their season, a five-week grind where the players lived out of suitcases the entire time, even when they were at home because they would be leaving soon.

It was 37 days and 17 games in total including Sunday night, and the numbers over that time are exhausting to even consider.

Keep in mind that the Canadiens and every NHL team got three days off for Christmas, Dec.

24-26, and those are included in both the days off and full days spent in Montreal listed below, even though some players did not spend those days in Montreal.

Yes, the Canadiens played 10 games as part of a back-to-back and just seven stand-alone games in that time.

They visited every time zone in the league.

They played, according to the standings at the end of the night Sunday, nine of the top 13 teams in the league, one of them twice, and won six of those 10 games.

They won the back half of those five back-to-backs four times and got a point for losing in a shootout on the fifth one.

And despite all of that, the Canadiens made that furious push in the third period to tie the score against the Rangers when Juraj Slafkovsky quite literally crashed the net to cash in a rebound of a Cole Caufield shot with a little more than seven minutes left in regulation before Patrik Laine converted a Kaiden Guhle feed to win it in overtime.

VICTOIRE, PATTY PATTY WINS IT #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/amgVStyGMZ Canadiens Montreal (@CanadiensMTL) January 20, 2025 I thought we were fresher in the third, captain Nick Suzuki said, and we were able to capitalize.

Fresher in the third.

No ones had an easy schedule this season, to be clear, because of the two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-off.

The Rangers were playing their 12th road game in their last 17 games.

But what the Canadiens have had to navigate is rare.

Advertisement Our schedules been very demanding, but I wouldnt use the word difficult because the whole league goes through that, coach Martin St.

Louis said.

Theres moments of a season where its demanding.

Were finding a way to manage our energy level and the amount of times we actually put our skates on, and I think it shows in our third-period push.

But it starts with the guys.

The guys are very engaged.

You can look up at that table to find the reasons why the Canadiens felt fresher than the Rangers in the third period.

The most significant figures are the two morning skates in 17 games, the nine practices in 37 days, and, perhaps most importantly, the five travel days, which are days where the Canadiens did nothing but travel.

Those have often come the day after games on the road, where they spent an extra night in the city they just played in rather than fly out after the game.

Two of those five travel days were used to fly back to Montreal after the game in Colorado and after the game in Dallas which is a significant financial investment by the team because flying back to Montreal after the game would save an extra night at a hotel for the team, an expenditure measured in the tens of thousands of dollars.

But the reason why that financial investment was made by the Canadiens was to allow their players to have a third period like the one they had Sunday night, on the back end of a back-to-back and at the end of a 37-day stretch that could have killed their season.

Oh yeah, its been a grind for sure.

I think it was 16 games in a row we didnt play in the same place or something? Suzuki said.

I mean, I felt my legs not being there many times.

I think our team game can push us through anything.

Even if were not feeling the best, collectively well find a way to get it done.

Advertisement Suzuki is heavily involved in managing the schedule.

His input as captain goes into the decision to cancel morning skates, to cancel practices.

For example, after the Canadiens had stayed over in Salt Lake City after the game against Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday, there was a plan to practice, but they couldnt get ice time because the Rangers were also in town at the same time.

So, the Canadiens simply travelled to Dallas on Wednesday.

But despite missing that practice, the Canadiens still did not hold a morning skate in Dallas on Thursday, and Suzuki was in on that decision.

The Canadiens have played four games since their last practice Monday in Salt Lake City, without holding a morning skate, and have won three of them.

I think weve been doing things strategically, no morning skates a lot of times, no practices, just trying to save the legs for games.

Its really been helping us, Suzuki said.

I think it was last year we were talking about (staying overnight in the same city after a road game), and we tried it a couple of times last year.

Flying for three hours or whatever it is after games is tough.

To have those days in between games to just have a travel day, I feel like youre on a better sleep schedule.

It is appropriate this performance came on the third anniversary of Kent Hughes first press conference as Canadiens general manager because a priority of this administration ever since Jeff Gorton was hired a little less than two months before Hughes was for the Canadiens to become a more modern organization.

And the way they have approached this extremely challenging stretch of the schedule is decidedly modern.

Emphasizing energy and rest instead of forcing practice.

Emphasizing sleep over the traditional way of traveling in the NHL.

Of course, the way the Canadiens have played over this stretch has made this much easier to execute.

You have to be calculated, St.

Louis said at the team hotel in Dallas, where the Canadiens were because they didnt have a morning skate that day before his team beat the Stars 3-1 on Thursday.

Were trying to put our team in position to have some energy.

It helps that our group is carrying itself in a way where we can really focus on managing energy instead of having to work on things we need to improve.

I know well come back to that later in the season, well have practices, well need to work on things instead of worrying about managing energy.

Were trying to balance it, but the way were carrying ourselves I find were doing a good job managing our energy.

Advertisement After the win in Dallas, Suzuki was asked if he felt skipping the morning skate was a factor, and he thought it was.

And the conversation about whether they would skip that skate happened in Utah two days earlier after the Canadiens came from behind to win 5-3.

He liked our comeback, Suzuki said in Dallas, so you get rewarded when youre playing well.

The Canadiens have earned a lot of rewards lately.

And now, the schedule will become more manageable.

They will play four of their next five games at the Bell Centre, they will have time to practice in between, and they might even have a morning skate or two sprinkled in there.

They have gotten through a ridiculous portion of their schedule in playoff contention.

A regulation loss to the Rangers on Sunday would have allowed New York to leapfrog them in the standings, and the Canadiens did not allow that to happen, despite so many factors going against them.

But another reason they did not allow that to happen is how they have managed those factors, how they navigated 37 days of ridiculous travel and scheduling to earn a much-deserved day off Monday.

And on the 38th day, they rested.

(Photo of Patrik Laines overtime goal against the Rangers: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article.