Great teamwork is team chemistry in action and you need that kind of chemistry to build a successful team. Montreal is a fabulous example of team chemistry gone mutant. Nowhere in the NHL manual of proper playoff protocol were the Canadiens expected to beat two champions. They were supposed to be fodder for the Capitals, and since that was a fluke, fodder for the Penguins.
The trouble with team chemistry is that it keeps getting better. In the biology of the brain the process is called myelination, where our brains build insulated pathways that improve brain performance. Practice your slapshot over and over and it gets faster. Play game after game at a competitive level and your comfort in critical game situations becomes consistent. Play do-or-die playoff hockey game after game and a certain comfort takes over. Montreal is growing myelin aimed at playoff peak performance and they are having fun doing it.
Whatever Montreal pulls off in the next series, they should be a model for every minor and professional hockey team of how to MENTALLY play (and coach.) They have implemented strategies that any team can learn and apply. And they are certainly a different team now, than the one that entered the playoffs.
Call it team chemistry or myelination, the next team they face should be worried.
