The Devil's in the details

BROSSARD - After a rare four-day break in their schedule, the Canadiens held an optional morning skate ahead of their dance with the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night. And although they took some time to enjoy the holiday season, the Habs made sure to work hard in practice leading up to their return to game action and were feeling refreshed despite the hard work they put in in the interim.

"I think it was huge," Andrew Shaw said of the mini-break. "You're physically and mentally tired, so those two days were good for us. We had some fun, we had a Christmas party, we had a couple of laughs away from the rink. And [we got] back to work again on Tuesday. We're getting ready for a good New Jersey Devils team tonight."

For Alex Galchenyuk, the time off was much-needed, but he hopes it also gives the Canadiens a bit of a leg up as they try to snap a three-game losing streak against a Devils squad that has played .500 hockey in December thus far.
"I don't remember the last time I've had that in the schedule. It's nice," described Galchenyuk, who has nine points (3G, 6A) in his last eight games. "You don't get those often and you have to make sure you manage that well.
"We know they're a good team. They work hard and compete well. At the same time, we're also well-prepared, we're fresh. We had two great practices, so we have to make sure we get back on track tonight."

If the Habs are indeed to reverse their fortunes and come away with two points on Thursday, they'll have ensure they transfer the exertion level they displayed in practice into their games.
"We have to continue getting better on our forecheck. At the start of the year, things weren't going very well but our forecheck was good. We were grabbing a lot of pucks," explained Charles Hudon. "We just have to continue doing that, and break out more, create more offense. It's hard to score goals these days, but we just have to continue working hard."
Defenseman Karl Alzner hopes that the Canadiens will not only improve their consistency in one-on-one battles, but also in their positioning and footspeed with the puck.
"Hard work is always the number-one thing. Our last couple of practices have been some of our best and hardest-working practices we've had. Also, we've talked a lot about playing the game fast and with speed," added the Burnaby, BC native, who has averaged 20:39 of ice time in 31 games with the Canadiens this year. "It's not always just skating the puck fast, it's getting into position fast and moving it up the ice quickly. That's something that's going to be really important in every game the rest of the way. Those teams are always hard to play against. We've emphasized that a lot in our video and on the ice. That's going to be the other thing that's important."

If Alzner looked a bit lighter when he met with reporters on Thursday, it's because he had done away with his locks as part of the Leucan Shaved Head Challenge, initiated by teammate Jeff Petry.
While Alzner was proudly showing off his razed head, two other Habs who took part in the initiative - which raised over $33,000 for Leucan - namely Shaw and Hudon, preferred to keep their new hairdos covered, with Hudon suggesting that the lack of hair was acting as a speedometer of sorts for him on the ice.
"It was funny, I would say you felt the wind more, you knew how fast you were going," cracked Hudon, who led the charge with $8,300 raised. "The guys all had a laugh when they saw us come in this morning. It was just funny. We did it for the kids, it was a good thing to do."

Another Hab who took part in the fundraiser was injured forward Artturi Lehkonen. And while the clippers didn't quite cure him, head coach Claude Julien provided some encouraging news on the 22-year-old, stating that the Finn - who has missed the last 13 games with a lower-body injury - was getting ever so closer to a return.
"He's recovering at the right pace right now. He practiced with the team today and there's a strong possibility he will again tomorrow in Ottawa," said Julien. "Things are headed in the right direction. The plan is for him to come along with us on the trip, so it's all positive."