Canadiens Lineup

Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Artturi Lehkonen – Max Domi – Andrew Shaw

Jonathan Drouin – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Joel Armia

Nicolas Deslauriers – Nate Thompson – Jordan Weal

Victor Mete – Shea Weber

Brett Kulak – Jeff Petry

Jordie Benn – Christian Folin

Carey Price – Antti Niemi

Charles Hudon, Dale Weise, Matthew Peca, Mike Reilly, Charlie Lindgren,  Paul Byron (upper body)

none

Game Report

The Canadiens are locked in a contentious playoff battle with Carolina and Columbus. Yes, they still are even after tonight’s crushing loss.

But in the span of five days, the Habs have managed just one point in games with the Hurricanes and Blue Jackets. That one point was only due to the magic of Carey Price as the Canadiens, at best, put together 10 minutes of effort in each game.

Allowing an opponent to control the game for 50 minutes is not a roadmap to the playoffs. And the Habs will likely get exactly what they have sown.

It’s not officially over but Montreal will have to run the table to have a chance at making the post-season. The four-game finale to the regular campaign is as tough as it gets with the Jets, Lightning, Capitals and Maple Leafs on the docket.

But first they Canadiens will have to get over tonight’s loss. Knowing that they could have controlled their own destiny but failed against Columbus will hurt deeply. And the way they lost the game will be particularly devastating.

Montreal got off to a great start, scoring in the first two minutes and controlling play for the first ten minutes. But that would be the high point of their night.

Columbus fans cheered when the home side got their first shot on goal halfway through the opening frame. The Blue Jackets finished the period strong forcing Carey Price to make big saves to hold the fragile lead.

Following the first intermission, Columbus ramped up its effort executing coaching adjustments that were not countered by Claude Julien and his staff. John Tortella exploited line matchups and made tactical tweaks that gave his team the upper hand for the remainder of the game.

Columbus scored less than two minutes into the second period on a 5-on-2. It was the worst example of numerous odd man rushes given up by the Canadiens all evening fueled by mistakes, turnovers and lost puck battles.

Coming into tonight, Carey Price was 5-2-1 with a 1.62 goals-against average, .947 save percentage and one shutout in his previous eight starts. With numbers like that and a playoff-worthy team, Price would have had more than five wins in that eight game stretch.

Despite Marc Bergevin’s protestations, the Montreal Canadiens are still a team that relies solely on Price for their success. They have been doing so this season since November.

But to compete with the contenders, Bergevin will have to do a better job assembling a more complete team without creating self-inflicted holes in the roster. Barring a miracle over the next four games, the Bergevin directed Canadiens will miss the playoffs for the third time in the past four years.

Plus / Minus

▲  Carey Price 

▼  Jonathan Drouin, Victor Mete, Brendan Gallagher, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Andrew Shaw, Max Domi, Christian Folin, Claude Julien