CANADIENS
Montreal

HURRICANES
Carolina

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings 

[one_half]Pacioretty – Drouin – Byron
Galchenyuk – Danault – Shaw
Lehkonen – Plekanec – Gallagher 
Deslauriers – Hudon – Carr
[/one_half]

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

Goaltenders

Price
Niemi

Scratches

Jacob De La Rose, Byron Froese

Injuries

Ales Hemsky – concussion, Al Montoya – concussion, Shea Weber – lower-body, David Schlemko – flu

Game Report

Here’s hoping that your Christmas week festivities prevented you from being on time to watch the beginning of this match. For at least the first ten minutes of the game, the Montreal Canadiens did not look like a team who belonged in this league.

While being outplayed badly and outshot 10-1 by Carolina, the Canadiens only answer was Carey Price. The Habs MVP was the only answer to the onslaught, minimizing the damage to just one goal against by the first intermission.

Alex Galchenyuk rifled a shot past Cam Ward just five minutes into the second period. Thanks to continued heroics from Price, the tie stood until midway through the third period. 

If not for Carey Price, the result would have been ugly. Full-staffed or not, this is not a team that will be playing in the playoffs. Whether buyers or sellers (and it should be obvious which path the Canadiens are on) we are entering a very busy time for NHL general managers.

How can fans have confidence in Marc Bergevin to first accurately assess the team and then add a few assets or sell off pieces for future talent? Bergevin has badly missed this mark this season and shouldn’t be trusted to put pieces in place in a rebuild.

Up next for the Canadiens is the number one team in the league.

~~~

▲▲  Carey Price

▲    Alex Galchenyuk, Brendan Gallagher

▼    Jonathan Drouin, Karl Alzner, Joe Morrow

1. Sebastien Aho  CAR
2. Jordan Staal  CAR
3. Cam Ward  CAR

• “Alex came to play tonight. When he comes to play, it shows. He has a good skill level, he’s a guy that can certainly shoot the puck, he’s got a lot going on for him now. I hope it’s the start of what we’re going to see from hereon in. I liked his game tonight.”
• “I thought we competed well. But at the end of the day, we have to find a way to score goals.”

Brendan Gallagher

• “The chances are there; we’re able to score multiple times. It’s just about putting them in. Goalies are going to make saves, but you trust that when you get those opportunities over and over again, eventually, they’re going to start going in the back of the net.”

Max Pacioretty

• “We’re sitting back too much on our heels. We’re trying to play strong defense, but I think that when we do that, we just sit back on our heels instead of trying to play in their end. The best way we can defend is [by] trying to sustain some offensive-zone pressure, making plays and keeping the puck down there.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com