Canadiens Lineup

Rem Pitlick – Nick Suzuki – Josh Anderson

Mike Hoffman – Kirby Dach – Evgenii Dadonov 

Owen Beck – Christian Dvorak – Jesse Ylonen

Michael Pezzetta – Alex Belzile – Harvey-Pinard

Arber Xhekaj – David Savard

Mike Matheson – Justin Barron

Jordan Harris – Johnathan Kovacevic

Sam Montembeault – Jake Allen

Chris Wideman

Carey Price (knee), Paul Byron (hip), Sean Monahan (lower-body), Kaiden Guhle (lower-body), Brendan Gallagher (lower-body), Jake Evans (lower-body), Joel Armia (upper-body), Jonathan Drouin (upper-body), Juraj Slafkovsky (lower-body), Cole Caufield (shoulder), Joel Edmundson (upper-body)

Game Report

Let’s just say that we warned you. The much lauded new system of Marty St. Louis, introduced in the last few weeks, had a major flaw: a substantial fall off in generating scoring chances.

With a full five-man commitment to defence and helping out Canadiens goaltenders, the team abandoned the run-and-gun style that characterized their first half season style of play. Scoring opportunities have dried up but the Habs have kept scores close.

It simplistic to blame the lack of scoring on the call-ups or younger players. Nick Suzuki has scored once in the past 19 games. And collectively, the Canadiens defence corps have no goals in the past 14 games.

Combine the droughts with the game plan and it results in a game like tonight: Anton Forsberg and the Senators, playing the second game of a back-to-back shut out the Habs. The second period collapse and some weak goaltending led to the Habs loss. Once they got behind, they could not flip the switch to turn the offence back on.

The game was not a total loss.

It was a memorable experience for Owen Beck and his family. Beck made his NHL debut complete with the traditional solo lap just prior to the pre-game warmup. The emergency callup from the OHL had 9:48 in ice-time and went 1-for-3 at the faceoff dot. The head coach was complimentary about the game he played tonight.

It was not only a taste of the NHL for Beck, but tangible goal for him to set his sights on once his junior career is complete.

Up Next

The Canadiens head home for the second half of their series against the Senators at the Bell Centre on Tuesday night.

Owen Beck will not accompany the Canadiens to Montreal. He is returning to Peterborough tonight.

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