Canadiens Lineup

Tyler Toffoli – Nick Suzuki – Joel Armia

Cole Caufield – Phillip Danault – Josh Anderson

Artturi Lehkonen – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Jake Evans

Michael Frolik – Eric Staal – Corey Perry

Brett Kulak – Ben Chiarot

Joel Edmundson – Jeff Petry

Alexander Romanov – Jon Merrill

Jake Allen – Cayden Primeau

Erik Gustafsson

Xavier Ouellet, Charlie Lindgren, Michael Pezzetta, Joel Teasdale, Alex Belzile

Brendan Gallagher (hand), Carey Price (concussion), Paul Byron (lower-body), Jonathan Drouin (undisclosed), Tomas Tatar (lower-body), Shea Weber (upper-body)

Game Report

We have heard the excitement and hype. The Canadiens had won three games in a row. They were tied for third in the division. And they were in control of their fate.

With all of these factors in their favor, how did the Habs deliver such a stinker of a game? Now some will run and hide behind the silly scheduling excuse. This has been a challenging season for a number of reasons including a condensed schedule. And those challenges extend to other teams well beyond the Canadiens.

Working to combat the effects of an energy-zapping schedule involves managing a roster and managing a lineup to ensure that fresh legs are available. Marc Bergevin made a difficult situation worse at the trade deadline and Dominique Ducharme has not made smart use of the few substitutes he has had at his fingertips.

But more importantly, if a head coach (even an interim one) is concerned about energy levels of his players, he would ensure that the team is well-prepared, and will start each game strong. That way the Canadiens would be in the best position possible to score first. Because what’s more energy draining than trailing early and chasing the game for three periods?

The Canadiens have not had a good start in many games. Tonight, it took 40 minutes to record two high-danger scoring chances finishing the game with just fine in total.

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