Canadiens Lineup

Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Artturi Lehkonen – Max Domi – Jordan Weal

Jonathan Drouin – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Joel Armia

Paul Byron  – Nate Thompson –  Nick Suzuki

Victor Mete – Shea Weber

Brett Kulak – Jeff Petry

Ben Chiarot – Christian Folin

Carey Price – Keith Kinkaid

Mike Reilly, Cale Fleury

Nick Cousins

Game Report

Tonight against the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Canadiens first line was their best. Phillip Danault had a goal, Tomas Tatar had two points and Brendan Gallagher had a three-point game earning first star honours.

The offensive production was set the tone for the rest of the team but it wasn’t the only area where the trio was effective. Claude Julien has spoken numerous times this season about his concern with the team’s play in the neutral zone. Danault, in particular has been making uncharacteristic mistakes, yet they were not apparent in this game.

It was a good bounce back game for the top line. On Thursday against the Red Wings, each member of the line had earned their way to a post-game minus from this analyst  who had placed every member in my minus. While Danault, Gallagher, Tatar have not been their dominant selves so far this season as a line, tonight they seemed to get back on track.

But it was an unsung hero on the Habs second line who showed perserverance to score the game-winning goal. Quietly, Artturi Lehkonen had four game-winners last season, which was tied for tops on the Canadiens. Lehkonen posted the Habs best possession numbers against the Blues among forwards.

Jeff Petry had a strong game leading all defencemen with more than 24 minutes of icetime. Brett Kulak, who has been been struggling since the pre-season, had a better performance alongside Petry.

Christian Folin had five hits against a big St. Louis team but was worst on the team in relative Corsi. Carey Price was forced to bail out his defencemen on several occasions, making 25 saves for his second win of the season.

The Canadiens continue to struggle while shorthanded as the Blues went 1-for-2 on the power-play. Montreal also gave up a goal on a delayed penalty to Tomas Tatar. The Habs are now 29th in the NHL on the penalty-kill.

The power-play slipped to 11th in the league as they went 0-for-4.

The Canadiens will be off on Sunday, returning to work on Monday practicing at the Bell Centre.

Plus / Minus

▲  Brendan Gallagher, Artturi Lehkonen, Tomas Tatar, Jeff Petry

▼  Christian Folin, Paul Byron