Canadiens Lineup

Artturi Lehkonen – Nick Suzuki – Tyler Toffoli

Rem Pitlick – Jake Evans – Josh Anderson

Laurent Dauphin – Christian Dvorak – Mike Hoffman

Michael Pezzetta – Ryan Poehling – Cedric Paquette

Ben Chiarot – David Savard

Brett Kulak – Jeff Petry

Alexander Romanov – Chris Wideman

Cayden Primeau – Michael McNiven

Sami Niku, Kale Clague

Jonathan Drouin (upper-body), Sam Montembeault (upper-body), Jake Allen (lower-body), Paul Byron (hip), Brendan Gallagher (lower-body), Mathieu Perreault (lower-body), Joel Edmundson (back), Carey Price (knee), Shea Weber (multiple injuries)

Joel Armia, Cole Caufield

Lukas Vejdemo, Corey Schueneman

Game Report

Following the game, the head coach said that it was a game that could be thrown in the garbage. Will it be so easy to forget the shellacking that the Habs took to end the seven game road trip? And easy to forget the fact that they won just one of the contests?

Dominique Ducharme freely admitted that his strategy during the 10-day trip was to give up quantity over quality shots. The plan hinged on his goaltenders making plenty of saves on low-danger shots. It worked, somewhat, as the Habs kept contests close over the past three games despite being considerably outshot.

But tonight was a struggle for Cayden Primeau giving up three soft goals and five goals in total before he got the hook. It didn’t get easier when Michael McNiven replaced Primeau for the third period. McNiven allowed three goals on seven shots admitting  afterwards that he was surprised by the quick releases of NHL shooters.

The other fatal flaw of Ducharme’s game plan was that the Canadiens have been spending far too much time in their own zone. Chasing the play can be fatiguing and by the final game of the road trip, Ducharme’s skaters were exhausted.

Post-game Josh Anderson said that the Wild skaters were doing circles around them in their own zone. Anderson was probably thinking about Kirill Kaprizov taking two laps of the Canadiens zone after a turnover by Jeff Petry.

Spending all that time in their own zone, by design, means that the Canadiens aren’t creating offence. After two periods of play, they had recorded just ONE high-danger scoring chance. 

Up Next

It appears that Canadiens fans are prepared to accept losses during a rebuild watching exciting young prospects play an up-tempo brand of hockey. Tonight’s game was the opposite of that. It will take a change behind the bench before Kent Hughes can claim that he is putting together a modern organization.

The Canadiens completed their seven game road trip and have returned to Montreal. They will host the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday in front of an empty Bell Centre. 

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