CANADIENS
Montreal

HURRICANES
Carolina

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Pacioretty – Galchenyuk – Gallagher
Eller – Plekanec – Carr
Danault – Desharnais – Andrighetto
Byron – Mitchell – Brown[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Markov – Pateryn
Emelin – Johnston
Hanley – Dietz
[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:

Lindgren
Condon

Scratches:  Mark Barberio, Victor Bartley, Nathan Beaulieu, Brian Flynn, Brett Lernout, Lucas Lessio, Stefan Matteau, P.K. Subban
Injured reserve:  Tom Gilbert, Jeff Petry, Carey Price

Game Report

It wasn’t the ideal start. Just 1:34 into his first NHL game, Charlie Lindgren faced his first NHL shot. And just like that, it was the rookie goaltender’s first NHL goal allowed.

At the other end was Cam Ward getting the 551st regular season start of his career. Fortunately for Lindgren and the Canadiens, it was not a stellar night for the veteran goaltender. Ward gave up a softie to Max Pacioretty and was a rebound machine all game long.

Rebounds were something Lindgren did a good job controlling. He used his athleticism to get around the crease and battled for the win until the final save. It wasn’t always pretty but Lindgren walked away with his first NHL win.

Another NHL first was the key goal in the game. With under 10 seconds remaining in the first period, Darren Dietz smartly held the puck until Brendan Gallagher moved into position for the screen, then he blasted a shot past Ward from the faceoff dot.  Dietz’s goal earned the Habs a tie heading into the first intermission and was the first of his career.

The win has the Canadiens moving the wrong way in the standings with respect to the Draft. While it’s still possible to move down further, ninth is looking like the final resting spot for 2015-’16.

And it appears, that whether he deserves it or not, Michel Therrien will be sitting at the Canadiens draft table in June.  During the game Darren Dreger tweeted that Marc Bergevin will announce soon that Therrien will be back next season.  It’s a huge disappointment for Habs fans who watched Therrien preside over a .349 winning percentage, worst in the NHL.

Should the speculation come true, it is clear that accountability is not valued in the Canadiens organization.

Montreal returns home to face the Lightning for the last game of the season on Saturday.

~~~

▲     Darren Dietz, Greg Pateryn, Sven Andrighetto, Joel Hanley, Tomas Plekanec, Lars Eller, Daniel Carr, Max Pacioretty

▼     Torrey Mitchell, David Desharnais

1. Max Pacioretty  MTL
2. Darren Dietz  MTL
3. Noah Hanifin  CAR

• “This is what the sport is all about. You got a kid that two weeks ago was in college, and in his first game in the NHL, his family was there tonight and he got the win. So this is a good moment.“

Max Pacioretty

• “Just a lucky one. It happens every now and then when you shoot heavy, you get some bounces. Approaching the 1-on-2 there, I didn’t have much room to go outside so I tried to shoot through the defensemen.“
• “I thought that was the best game for our young defensive corp with good recoveries. It seems like they if they got beat through them, the defensive partner bailed them out with a stick. It could be that everyone wanted to play a little harder to get the first win for Lindgren.”

Darren Deitz

• “There aren’t too many teams that have this many rookies making their debuts and sharing this together. This is something we have together, and something we won’t forget.”
• “It was a special moment. I was waiting for a net-front presence to get there. Gallagher was getting to the net, and you don’t score in this league without net-front presence.”

Charlie Lindgren

• “I just kept thinking, during the game, about getting that first NHL win and what it would mean. Just thinking about the people in the stands and my teammates back at St. Cloud State who were able to watch the game.“
• “That’s definitely not what I wanted to happen. Once that first goal went in, I really wasn’t rattled. I had to put it behind me and worry about the next shot.”

Hurricanes coach Bill Peters

• “They were tight. They were good in the neutral zone and we couldn’t get through. Then they took off in transition on odd-numbered rushes. I thought we made it hard on ourselves and turned a lot of pucks over.“

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com