HockeyAnatomy of the long change that doomed Habs

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Boston forward Michael Ryder scores on Montreal goalie Carey Price, the culmination of decisions and mistakes that occurred in the previous minute. (Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)

The moment overtime began Thursday in Montreal, Glenn Healy mentioned both teams had to deal with the "long change." This was a night where the Boston Bruins and Canadiens were burned by it, with the losers suffering the more serious scorching.

The long change occurs in the second period and odd-numbered overtimes. It means what it sounds like: defencemen have to go a longer way to get to the bench, because their team's haven is on the other side of centre.

To understand Boston's winning goal from the shocking 5-4 comeback victory, you must look back to the score that made it 3-1 Canadiens.

The Bruins have possession and time. Mark Recchi makes a simple pass to Johnny Boychuk, who fires across ice to Andrew Ference. Ference takes a few strides and looks for the home run to Brad Marchand. The problem - and this is the key part - is that Marchand fails to get it deep before being stripped by James Wisniewski.

Wisniewski's prowess means that Dennis Seidenberg can't get into the play after Boychuk goes for a change. With the Bruins looking more disorganized than a Canadian Federal election, Tomas Plekanec sets up Andrei Kostitsyn on a 2-on-1 for Montreal's third of the game.

Two hours later, as Seidenberg checked out the knot on his tie, he was asked about the game-winner.

"You never go to the bench unless it's sent in deep," he said. "We made the same mistake, and it cost us on the third goal."

The Bruins had the long change when Kostitsyn scored. That's the same disadvantage Montreal couldn't overcome when Michael Ryder's second of the game tied the series 2-2.

As one NHL assistant coach texted after the game, there are several rules when your defenceman have that issue.

"You must change before you are tired," the coach wrote. "You must change early so you are not caught. Look at Boston: bad change third goal, second period." (That's the Kostitsyn example above.)

The reason I point this out is that, on the winner, PK Subban got caught. But, it's easy to say a player was trapped on the ice. What's harder is determining whether or not Subban had the opportunity to get off.

Subban does not start the OT. The defensive pairing is Wisniewski/Roman Hamrlik. They last approximately 45 seconds - very reasonable - before giving way to Subban and Hal Gill. If you watch the game, you'll see that, about 25 seconds into his shift, Subban gets the puck and goes on a rush.

On a 2-on-2, he gets to the middle of the Boston zone, which very dangerous for the Bruins. But he's stripped by Zdeno Chara and a good-looking chance is eradicated.

Here is where it all goes sideways.

Gill uses Subban's rush to change. (Remember: "Change early so you are not caught.") Healy pointed out that Subban could have rimmed it around the boards, a perfect setup for Montreal forwards charging off the bench. That would have allowed him to get off the ice, too.

Instead, Boston transitions quickly, which traps the rookie on the ice. He makes a good defensive play on Michael Ryder, but loses his footing, slides into the boards behind the net and can't get to the bench as Montreal fails to get it deep.

By this time, his shift is at 50 seconds.

Boston dumps it back into his corner and Subban blasts it out. He sees Brian Gionta on a rush and, now on the ice for more than a minute, bolts for the bench. As the right-side defenceman, he's got the longest way to go.

Here's the problem: Boychuk steals it from Travis Moen and the Bruins counter-attack. Subban is at the door and his replacement, Brent Sopel, can only put his head down and chase as three Bruins blow by him.

Despite Boston's initial miss, Montreal's defensive coverage is a gong show and Ryder scores to win it.

I'll freely admit, in this situation, I defer to the players. To my knowledge, I've never been an NHL defenceman.

Could Subban have escaped sooner? Gill said he wasn't certain and would have to watch the tape. Jaroslav Spacek thought, if anything, Subban violated a cardinal veteran move.

"Don't change until it's deep," he said.

Subban was already going to get it from Jacques Martin for being on the ice too long. According to Garry Galley, who played 1,149 games, the best thing to do in that situation is stay out there until you're certain the puck is safe in the offensive zone. Even if you're on the ice for 90 seconds, it's better than giving up the winning rush.

There is also the question of whether or not the bench was yelling at him to stay on. Look at Sopel. He's sitting on the boards. Both Galley and Healy read that as Sopel saying, "He can't change now."

What made it even worse for Subban is that Montreal's fans picked him as one of the three stars. You could just see by the look on his face he wanted no part of it.

Subban was far from the sole reason the Canadiens lost. You can't blow 3-1 and 4-3 leads in a home playoff game. But it's an important lesson in his continuing evolution: Be careful with the long change.

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