Canadiens Lineup

Harvey-Pinard – Nick Suzuki – Jesse Ylonen

Mike Hoffman – Jonathan Drouin – Josh Anderson

Rem Pitlick – Christian Dvorak – Denis Gurianov

Michael Pezzetta – Chris Tierney – Alex Belzile

Mike Matheson – David Savard

Joel Edmundson – Chris Wideman

Jordan Harris – Johnathan Kovacevic

Jake Allen – Sam Montembeault

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Carey Price (knee), Paul Byron (hip), Sean Monahan (lower-body), Brendan Gallagher (lower-body), Jake Evans (lower-body), Juraj Slafkovsky (lower-body), Cole Caufield (shoulder), Arber Xhekaj (upper-body), Kirby Dach (lower-body), Joel Armia (illness), Justin Barron (upper-body), Kaiden Guhle (upper-body)

Game Report

It’s hard to follow the logic in how Jesperi Kotkaniemi became public enemy number one in Montreal. It wasn’t his choice to be selected third overall in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft by the Canadiens. That was the direction of ‘co-GMs’ Marc Bergevin and Geoff Molson who demanded a centre from the scouting staff.

Mismanaging his development with the Canadiens can’t be blamed on Kotkaniemi either but two coaches who didn’t particularly care for managing young talent in Claude Julien and Dominique Ducharme.

And then there was the offer sheet. The sole responsibility for that debacle was Bergevin’s inattention to signing his future top-six forward.

So after the Canadiens organization completely botched the Kotkaniemi file, the Bell Centre faithful really had no business boo’ing the young man who has become the second line centre on the second best club in the entire league.

But they did, every time he touched the puck on Tuesday night.

So, with the angry sound of fans, driven by their misplaced animus, filling the building as the 12th shooter of the shootout came to centre ice, the dramatic stage was set. And the 22-year-old former Canadien rose to the occasion. 

One wonders if the regulars at the Montreal Forum would have been so inhospitable.

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