Canadiens Lineup

Tyler Toffoli – Nick Suzuki – Joel Armia

Jonathan Drouin – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Josh Anderson

Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Paul Byron

Artturi Lehkonen – Eric Staal – Corey Perry

Ben Chiarot – Shea Weber

Joel Edmundson – Jeff Petry

Alexander Romanov –  Brett Kulak

Jake Allen – Cayden Primeau

Xavier Ouellet, Jake Evans

Michael Frolik, Michael McNiven, Otto Leskinen, Cole Caufield

Brendan Gallagher (hand), Carey Price (lower-body), Erik Gustafsson (COVID protocol), Jon Merrill (COVID protocol)

Game Report

This was a low event game. The Canadiens were particularly lethargic not reacting well to a puck drop that was one hour earlier than usual. The start mirrored Wednesday’s game where Calgary owned a good deal of possession time and the Canadiens, particularly Phillip Danault, couldn’t win a faceoff.

But the second period was more evenly played with the Canadiens being first to light the goal lamp. After a hot start, Tyler Toffoli had cooled off without a goal in his previous six games. But the return of Joel Armia has ignited the Nick Suzuki line, leading to a two-goal night for Toffoli.

It was Armia’s second game back after a three and a half week absence due to testing positive for the coronavirus. Armia got his legs back under him on Wednesday but was 100 per cent for his effort in this game. Also making his way back into the lineup was Ben Chiarot who returned a little more than four weeks after fracturing his hand.

As Stephane Waite revealed the Canadiens play much more defensively with their backup in goal and tonight was no exception. Devoting more of their focus to helping Jake Allen defend left less time for offence. The Canadiens managed just 20 shots over 60 minutes.

For Allen, it was the third win in his last 13 starts. Credit to the Canadiens who played a playoff type game which required patience, a high compete level and their top goal scorer to step up at precisely the right moment.

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