What's the MOST important success factor ?

[rickthegoon]

Back pressure. When our forwards are back checking hard it cuts scoring chances down and allows the defense to stand teams up.

x2 ; Doing that all season ( aside from a few disasters in april) resulted in the first time since 1998 that the Habs gave an average of less than 27 shots a game to their opponents. Players sticking to the plan all year long.

 

[Habssupporter]

i'll go with coaching and new culture...also how many games have i seen where the habs held the other team under 7 shots in the first period. We have had a lot of strong starts this season and it seems we play really well when we score the first goal.

 

[Habssupporter]

Also this season has nothing to do with luck...48 games is plenty enough game to remove the Luck factor

 

[Runner77]

Culture change. Accountability. A breath of fresh air.

The idea that you don't need to have ex-Habs in upper management for the team to be successful.

 

[Born in 1909]

Over performance from Bourque?

I'd hate to see his under performance.

... oh yeah... we saw it last year.

#1 is the freshness and talent of the 2 Gallys.

 

[Demon Wolf]

Markov. Boosted our PP to top 5, perfect compliment to Subban. He's been overplayed but his return has allowed us to slot down each defender to more appropriate roles and it has massively improved our d-corps.

 

[HABSonaroll]

Defence has to play more smart - less penaltys . Max - Pleks - Ryder - Moen some more energy out of these guys - Gally has done it all year guys

 

[Haburger]

easy.goaltending.

 

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

Change of management/coaching/attitude and a full year from Markov. Those, right there, are the biggest differences from last year's last place squad. Otherwise, it's essentially the same vets and goaltender filling essentially the same roles. HMs to Prust and the rookies in particular, for their infusion of skill and energy.