CANADIENS
Montreal

AVALANCHE
Colorado

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings 

[one_half]Pacioretty – Byron – Lehkonen
Galchenyuk – Drouin – Scherbak
Hudon – Plekanec – Gallagher
Deslauriers – Froese – L. Shaw
[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Alzner – Petry
Mete – Schlemko
Morrow – Benn
[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders

Niemi
Price

Scratches

Jacob De La Rose, Daniel Carr, Jakub Jerabek

Injuries

Ales Hemsky – concussion, Shea Weber – lower-body, Phillip Danault – concussion, Andrew Shaw – lower-body

Game Report 

This was a tough game for Habs fans for more reasons than a 9:30 ET. start. While Montreal had no trouble running up the shot clock against Colorado, there was never a feeling that the visitors were in control.

The Avalanche had more scoring opportunities for a 2:38 stretch when they pinned the Canadiens fourth line in their own end than the Habs were able to generate on a 5-on-3 predictable power-play.

Not to say that Montreal played a bad game. They didn’t. Just not good enough.

While Antti Niemi had solid moments, the first Colorado goal on the wraparound was weak. The second Avs goal resulted from a broken play and some shoddy defensive coverage by Charles Hudon and Max Pacioretty.

After the emotion-driven intensity of the match against the Predators, this game was decidedly Melba toast.

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▲  Alex Galchenyuk, Karl Alzner, Artturi Lehkonen, Tomas Plekanec

▼  Joe Morrow, Charles Hudon, Victor Mete, Paul Byron, power-play

1. Semyon Varlamov  COL
2. Gabriel Bourque  COL
3. Carl Soderberg  COL

• “If we don’t find a way to score goals, we won’t win games. We had plenty of chances to score tonight, but couldn’t get the job done. It’s not a lack of offense, it’s a lack of finish.”
• “Tonight, our power play could have won the game for us, but it wasn’t good enough. We were too predictable. We stuck with Chucky’s shot, but had other options. The penalty kill got the job done, but the power play wasn’t good enough.”

Alex Galchenyuk

• “It’s unfortunate, with a close game like that, to have a 5-on-3 and make a few mistakes. We had to capitalize on that opportunity and we didn’t. It sucks.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com