Habs News: Montreal Canadiens, NHL, Phase 4, Kirk Muller, Max Domi, Joel Armia, Claude Julien, Brendan Gallagher, Power Play, Philadelphia Flyers
ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | LAVAL, QC. — The Canadiens are the underdogs in the best-of-seven series against the Flyers. Claude Julien mentioned several times before the start of the series that Philadelphia was the best team in the Eastern Conference that he had viewed in Toronto.
In the opening match, Shea Weber scored his third goal of the postseason to tie the game 1-1, before Joel Farabee scored the eventual game winning goal only 16 seconds later. “I thought we had a little bit of a rusty start. I thought we were slow out of the gates, maybe due to not playing for a bunch of days. I thought as the game went on we got better and we showed that we can play with them,” said Weber after the game.
“We built some confidence in knowing we can play with these guys. That’s the way I feel right now: they’re an extremely good team. I’d like to think our team right now is a good enough team to play with these guys,” added the coach.
Muller In Charge
On Thursday afternoon, Marc Bergevin announced that Claude Julien was taken to the hospital on Wednesday night after suffering chest pains. The coach headed back home to Montreal the next day, following stenting of a coronary artery that was carried out at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. The great news is that the doctors expect a full recovery.
“We’re happy he’s doing better now. We’re all praying for him and his family. He would expect the same thing out of us, to stay focused on the task at hand,” said Max Domi after Friday’s game.
Kirk Muller was given the responsibility to assume the role of head coach until Julien’s return. Friday’s win was Muller’s first career postseason win as a head coach.
“He’s always somebody who kind of talks with a certain intensity with his heart. He’s been in your shoes, he battled. Anyone who watched Kirk Muller play hockey knows what kind of hockey he played. You have instant respect for him, what he says to you and his opinion. Whenever he delivers a message, it’s pretty heartfelt. Guys respect it, guys understand it, and I think he’s really good at teaching,” said Paul Byron on Saturday.
The general manager ruled out that Julien would be back before the end of the series versus the Flyers. He may not be behind the bench, but Julien is keeping an eye on the team from his home. “We’re touching base daily,” Muller said before Sunday’s game.
Emotional Series
Headed into the series, the main storyline that I was anticipating was ex-Canadiens coaches Alain Vigneault and Michel Therrien trying to beat their former employers. If we really wanted to stretch it, we can also look at Nate Thompson, Dale Weise, and Jordan Weal all facing their previous teams.
The Habs rallied behind Julien’s absence for game two of the series. “To Claude, this win is for you and the family,” said the acting coach after the win. “We for sure wanted to win for both of them. There was lots of energy on the bench before the game, it was incredible,” added Jonathan Drouin.
After his team getting outplayed in the second game, Vigneault started the war of words that are typical in the playoffs. “I saw towards the end of the game, where Kirk Muller has a 5-0 lead and he puts his number one power play on the ice. We had embarrassed ourselves enough. I don’t think we needed to get embarrassed more. I’m going to make sure our team is very aware of that next game.”
The Flyers had their own source of motivation for the third game of the series as Oskar Lindblom practiced with the team on Sunday for the first time since being diagnosed with a form of bone cancer in December. “The group was ecstatic to have him back even though it was a morning skate,” Vigneault said. “Great young man, beautiful smile, great to have him around.”
Power Play
After finishing 0-for-12 on the power play against the Penguins, the Canadiens made changes to their units for the first round. Jeff Petry was moved to the first wave and was paired with Shea Weber. It was a new strategy for the team as they used one defenceman on each unit for the entire season.
Tatar was moved to the second unit to replace Philip Danault, and in the unexpected category, Victor Mete took Petry’s spot at the blue line. Mete had played a total of 3:20 on the power play during the entire 2019-20 regular season.
“We felt with Petry and Weber together, two defencemen that have good shots. We think it would create a few more opportunities of shots to the net. We just wanted to change it up,” explained Muller.
The early results were positive as Montreal scored three times in seven opportunities with the extra attacker through the first two games, however they were scoreless in three tries on Sunday.
Domi Bumped To Third Line
It was a moment that we were all waiting for and it happened in the third period of the opening game of the series. Max Domi was moved out of the fourth line and into a line with Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jonathan Drouin.
“It’s no secret, Jo [Drouin] and I are very close off the ice and spend a lot of time away from the rink together. We love playing together. It was a lot of fun to get out there with him tonight. KK was outstanding,” said Domi after game two where he recorded three assists.
“It’s really fun to play with those guys, they’re just flying out there. They are both really skilled,” Kotkaniemi said following game three.
As a line, the trio recorded a total of two goals and four assists in game two. During Sunday’s third period, Muller switched the lines to try to generate some offence, and Nick Suzuki was place in the middle of Drouin and Domi.
“There’s reasons obviously that I can’t really talk about,” answered Julien when asked to explain his decision to change lines in the third period of the first game. As you can see in the video below, Joel Armia had a routine clearing attempt that he shot directly into the Flyers bench, and then looked uncomfortable in front of his own bench after the whistle. Armia took one more shift before sitting out the last 7:21 of that game, and was slotted on the fourth line the following game.
Gallagher Scoreless
In order for Montreal to remain in the series, they will need their top goal scorers to contribute offensively. The pair of goals that Tatar scored in game two were his only goals since the start of the postseason. Brendan Gallagher was tied with Tatar as the team’s leading regular season goal scorer with 22, and is still looking for his first goal in the postseason.
“Frustrated, for sure,” said Gallagher when asked about his lack of production. “I’m put into positions to produce, that’s my role on this team.”
“Gally is someone that puts a lot on his shoulders. He’s a winner, he’s hungry. I’m not worried about him, he works hard. He’s a leader, he has his heart on his sleeves, and shows up every night,” said Danault.
Canadiens Connection podcast
These issues, including post-game audio, and other current Habs topics were discussed on this week’s episode of the Canadiens Connection. Listen and subscribe!
By Chris G., Senior Writer
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