Canadiens Lineup

Jonathan Drouin – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Josh Anderson

Tyler Toffoli – Nick Suzuki – Joel Armia 

Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Paul Byron – Jake Evans – Corey Perry

Joel Edmundson – Shea Weber

Brett Kulak – Jeff Petry

Alexander Romanov – Xavier Ouellet

 Jake Allen – Carey Price

Artturi Lehkonen, Victor Mete

Gustav Olofsson, Laurent Dauphin, Michael Frolik, Charlie Lindgren

Ben Chiarot (hand)

Game Report

There were rather interesting storylines surrounding this game. 

The Canadiens came back for the second straight game. Vancouver won only their second game of the season (along with 14 losses) when not scoring first. Jake Allen was in net for his 300th NHL game while equipment manager Pierre Gervais was behind the bench for his 3000th game!

But there was only one thing that mattered when it was all said and done. The Montreal Canadiens remain the only team in the NHL who have not won an overtime game, and their record worsened to 0-9 when the clock goes beyond regulation.

Dominique Ducharme continues to check his notes and play the same cards. It’s entirely logical to him. But it has failed every time.

It could be called stubborn a few games ago. Now the interim coach is simply being defiant. Ducharme won’t change tactics now and admit defeat. 

Ducharme once again deployed Phillip Danault, Paul Byron and Jeff Petry to start overtime. By the coaches logic, the reason Danault is on the ice was to gain possession. Danault promptly lost the draw (just as he did against Winnipeg.)

Intransigent, perhaps? Maybe. But more so than that, Ducharme is making rookie mistakes. He doesn’t have the confidence to discard a losing strategy and adapt as a more seasoned successful coach would do.

Up Next

Is this an overtime curse for Montreal? No, it’s a choice.

At 5-5-2, the Canadiens hold the worst home-ice record in the North division. It will be the second last reverse retro jersey night at the Bell Centre on Saturday. The Canucks will be the opponents once again in this back-to-back.

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