Pacioretty: Radulov's 'Russian mentality' rubbing off on Habs in all the right ways

Max Pacioretty's a pretty good quote.

The Montreal Canadiens captain was asked about the influence of Alex Radulov, one of his newest teammates, by NHL.com's Arpon Basu after Saturday's thrashing of the Colorado Avalanche, and No. 67 gave an interesting - and long - answer.

"It's tough for me to express how I feel about how important he is because ... how dynamic he plays not only is great to produce offense but it rubs off on our entire lineup," Pacioretty said. "I know it's rubbed off on me since I've been on his line."

If we're going to learn anything about Radulov from Pacioretty, it's that the Russian is as dynamic as dynamic can get, and that dynamic-ness is helping Pacioretty play more dynamic.

"I feel like I'm playing much more dynamic, I'm making the plays when they're there," Pacioretty added. "But I owe a lot of that to him because it's not just making the plays with him, but seeing him do it night in and night out. That's kind of that Russian mentality. Some of these guys come over here and, him especially, he's not worried about the turnover last shift. He's just worried about the next shift and playing dynamic and trying to make the play when it's there."

It appears Radulov's ability to treat each shift as simply one shift is what Pacioretty is taking to heart.

"I think sometimes we turn into a bit of robots playing over in North America where you had a bad shift before, you made a turnover and you might not try it the next shift. That might creep into your head. But you see him do it, every shift he goes out there with almost a clean slate, trying to play dynamic and trying to make the right play when it's there. It's just a lot of fun to play with and I feel it's rubbed off on our lineup and we've seen some results from it."

After Pacioretty's four-goal and five-point outburst Saturday, he leads the Habs in scoring with 24 points. He's the only Canadien with 10 or more goals. Behind him in points is Radulov, with 23, and he's averaging only 16:35 in ice time per game.

Based on Radulov's production and his captain's comments, it's clear Marc Bergevin nailed this free-agent signing.