When Cole Caufield skated off the bench after Nick Suzuki’s shootout winner and shouted ‘Bonne Nuit, Tampa!’ while miked up for TVA Sports, it really cemented how different the Montreal Canadiens have become over the last few months.
The changes on the ice are obvious, the team looks different on the ice, players are allowed to make mistakes, and they are free to focus on attacking instead of hammering down the defensive end of the ice. It isn’t always pretty, as they have been outplayed and outmatched at times, but overall it is providing a much more competitive team than the first months of the season.