Eleven of the eighteen skaters on the ice for the Canadiens in Game three of the Eastern Final against Philadelphia were not with the team in last year’s playoffs. Jacques Martin paid tribute to Gainey’s continuing influence on the team during his news conference today.

It’s often said, “Nobody pays 150 dollars a ticket to watch NHL coaches coach.”

Outside of obvious line juggling, most in-game moves are subtle and difficult to fathom in the moment.

On Thursday night, the Canadiens trailed 2-1 entering the third period against the Penguins. In the first two periods, Martin ran a traditional bench making use of all of four of his lines.

Jacques Martin came to the Canadiens with a reputation for being blindly committed tohaving his team play a plodding, dull defense-oriented trapping game. There was no discussion about what kind of in-game tactician he was. As we learned in the final three games against Washington, Martin knows how to run a bench especially on the road when his opposing coach had the last change.