When NHL general managers and owners fire their head coach -- which happens every 27 seconds, or so it seems -- there's usually a positive response from the players, who pretend to be motivated for a few weeks until reverting to who they really are.

For reasons that I explain in this video, I believe the situation is different for the St. Louis Blues and their new coach, Jim Montgomery. The team is 3-0-1 since Montgomery replaced the ineffective Drew Bannister, but so much has changed in a short time. The Blues are getting more scoring chances from the prime shooting areas of the ice. Before the coaching switch, the Blues' opponents had a significant advantage in controlling those areas. The Blues are now in the process of taking control of those territories, and that largely explains why they've scored 70 percent of the total goals during Monty's first four games. He does not care about shot quantity. He cares about shot quality. And that philosophy is paying off.

Montgomery brought an extensive history with 15 of the Blues' current players when he started the job, getting to know everything about them personally and professionally while assisting Craig Berube for two seasons in STL. This knowledge gave Montgomery a head start in taking a new challenge.

Four games is a small sample size and the Blues and Montgomery have a lot to prove. Their will be some tough times along the way, but this coach can handle it. For those who didn't understand it before, I think they can understand it now: Montgomery is the only coach that GM Doug Armstrong wanted after replacing Berube.

Montgomery wasn't available at that time; he was busy coaching Boston to the league's No. 1 regular-season record over his two-plus years as coach. But as soon as the Bruins fired Montgomery, Armstrong swooped in and got his coach. And the Blues appear to be a much better team because of it.