CANADIENS
Montreal

JETS
Winnipeg

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Pacioretty- Galchenyuk – Gallagher
Eller – Plekanec – Andrighetto
De la Rose – Danault – Mitchell
Matteau – McCarron – Byron[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Markov- Subban
Emelin – Pateryn
Ellis – Barberio
[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:

Condon
Scrivens

Scratches:  Victor Bartley, Lucas Lessio, Mike Brown
Injured reserve:  Carey Price, Daniel Carr, Brian Flynn, Jeff Petry, David Desharnais, Tom Gilbert, Nathan Beaulieu

Game Report

The Canadiens went 0-for-4 on their western road trip earning just one of a possible eight points. For some fans it is becoming hard to watch games. And yet, the Habs are not improving their draft position currently sitting at 22nd in the league.

The focus for many tonight was Alex Galchenyuk’s return to centre flanked by Brendan Gallagher and Max Pacioretty. The discussion within the All Habs team was would this line finish the game intact? It did not but the impatience of Michel Therrien was not to blame this time. Gallagher left the game with a lower-body (perhaps groin) injury after just seven shifts.

Not to be deterred, Galchenyuk continued his torrid pace scoring his 20th and 21st goals of the season with Pacioretty and Sven Andrighetto at his sides. As I’ve said many times, the position that Galchenyuk plays is less important than ensuring that he gets top minutes and complimentary linemates.

Unfortunately bumping the player who has been the team’s best centre to the wing limited the effectiveness of Lars Eller. And with a mishmash of talent on the bottom six, the Canadiens brass has ensured that the offense would continue to be unproductive.  Michael McCarron had six shots on goal, tied with Pacioretty for the team lead, but finished with a team-worst minus-3 rating.

With the offense sputtering, the defence needed to be rock solid. And it wasn’t. It’s somewhat understandable, I suppose, when the third-pairing defenseman Mark Barberio looks lost in his own end. But entirely unacceptable when the team’s number one d-man is making unforced errors that result in the opposition lighting the lamp.

P.K. Subban was responsible for the Kings winning goal on Thursday night. In Winnipeg, Subban’s grandstanding led to the Jets first goal. Did he lose an edge? Was he trying to make a drop pass? Save the silly excuses. It was simply a failed second spin move  that provided the turnover to the Jets Mark Scheifele.

With nine rookies in the Habs lineup, it is the second game in a row that the worst gaffe came from one of the league’s highest-paid players.

The end to the Canadiens season is only five weeks and 16 games away. The sooner this trainwreck of a season can be left behind along with its architects, the better.

The Canadiens return home to begin a four-game home stand with Dallas arriving for a game at the Bell Centre on Tuesday.

~~~

▲     Alexei Emelin, Greg Pateryn

▼     P.K. Subban, Stefan Matteau, Mark Barberio, Torrey Mitchell

1. Mark Scheifele  WPG
2. Alex Galchenyuk  MTL
3. Andrew Copp  WPG

• “[Galchenyuk] responded really well (at centre.) First of all, he looked confident. He attacked with a lot of speed. On the defensive side, he was confident and in the right place. He’s a young player (22). You look at the progress [each season], he is maturing on the ice.”
• “Other than the result, I have to look at the performance of the young players. The result is not there, but there are a lot of good things that we see from those young kids.”

Max Pacioretty

• “It’s going to be nice to get home. These weren’t the results that we wanted. We had a couple of really good efforts. Tonight was definitely a really good effort, in my mind. We battled back and forth with them right until the end. We’ve just got to keep at this.“

Alex Galchenyuk

• “I felt pretty comfortable (at center), to be honest. I think that as a line we created some chances, but it’s tough losing another close game.“
• “It’s been a really difficult road trip for us. We played some great teams. It’s disappointing coming home like that.”

P.K. Subban

• “It has been a tough road trip for us. I felt we had an opportunity to get two points. I felt we came in with the right energy, the right mentality, the right attitude. We played hard the whole road trip.”

Jets coach Paul Maurice

• “It’s just skating for me. When [Mark Scheifele] brings his speed as the first thing he puts on the ice, he’s a really good player.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com