Canadiens Lineup

Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Artturi Lehkonen – Max Domi – Nick Suzuki

Ryan Poehling – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Nick Cousins

Lukas Vejdemo – Nate Thompson – Jordan Weal

Ben Chiarot – Shea Weber

Brett Kulak – Jeff Petry

Victor Mete – Cale Fleury

Carey Price – Charlie Lindgren

Christian Folin, Mike Reilly, Riley Barber

Paul Byron, Jonathan Drouin, Matthew Peca, Joel Armia

Game Report

The organization has seemingly given up on him. Fans are enthralled with their new shiny bauble in the crease. Yet Charlie Lindgren will persevere, as deep down, he knows his own talent.

“I will persist until I succeed.
I was not delivered unto this world in defeat, nor does failure course in my veins. I am not a sheep waiting to be prodded by my shepherd. I am a lion and I refuse to talk, to walk, to sleep with the sheep. I will hear not those who weep and complain, for their disease is contagious. Let them join the sheep. The slaughterhouse of failure is not my destiny.
I will persist until I succeed.” – Og Mandino

These words were inspired by the Bible and were written by Augustine “Og” Mandino II. They are also the words by which Charlie Lindgren lives and follows.

The Montreal media, who, at best, have a very casual relationship with the truth, largely ignored the performance of Lindgren tonight. But he was outstanding.

Perhaps one of the most important responsibilities of a head coach is putting players, in a position to succeed. Except, of course, if your name is Claude Julien. Instead, the coach tossed his young goaltender to the dogs when nothing else was working on the Canadiens road trip to the American South.

The Hurricanes currently sit seventh overall in the NHL, with a 12-6-0 record in the PNC Arena. Carolina is powered by speedy, high octane offence. It was a huge challenge for Lindgren who had his last game for Laval two-and-a-half weeks ago and his last NHL start eight months ago. 

The Canes were dominant at times in this game particularly in the last half of the first period. But Lindgren was up to the test. He made 33 stops with a save percentage of .943.

Marc Bergevin made an obvious mistake signing Keith Kinkaid to a very generous contract, one that we forecast. And Cayden Primeau needs considerable time in Laval, particularly as he is going through some shaky times in the AHL.

So why not Lindgren to occasionally spell Carey Price and reduce the load even a little? Lindgren has had a very good season in the AHL and has proven himself to be a capable NHL goaltender.

Plus / Minus

▲  Charlie Lindgren, Ryan Poehling

▼  Phillip Danault, Tomas Tatar, Jeff Petry, Brett Kulak