Canadiens Lineup

Artturi Lehkonen – Phillip Danault – Joel Armia

Charles Hudon – Nick Suzuki – Jordan Weal

Paul Byron – Max Domi – Dale Weise

Lukas Vejdemo – Jake Evans

Ben Chiarot – Shea Weber

Brett Kulak – Jeff Petry

Xavier Ouellet – Christian Folin

Karl Alzner

Carey Price – Charlie Lindgren

Jonathan Drouin, Tomas Tatar, Brendan Gallagher

Victor Mete

Game Report

These are going to be tough games for the Canadiens to play and for fans to watch. In the scheme of things, it was a meaningless game for Montreal, and one where they were severely outmatched.

The Habs were not a threat all game long. 

Dutifully, Montreal players spoke about not burying chances in their post-game scrums. The fact is, they had very few legitimate scoring chances all game long. The Canadiens played a perimeter game failing to get to the middle of the ice against a strong Lightning team, who are tuning up for the playoffs. 

The knee jerk instinct for the head coach (and some fans) was to point to the Canadiens players out of the lineup with illness and injury. But, of course, they are ignoring the obvious: the Lightning were missing their best player and captain, Steven Stamkos, and a top-four defenceman in Ryan McDonagh.

No, the simple truth is that the Canadiens, 100 per cent healthy or not, are no where close to being a contender for the Stanley Cup. Yet, it appears, that there will be no accountability for the multiple failures among the individuals who manage and coach this team. 

The Canadiens now head to Sunrise where they will take on the Panthers on Saturday night. 

Plus / Minus

▲  Carey Price, Joel Armia

▼  Paul Byron, Jordan Weal, Ben Chiarot, Karl Alzner, Jeff Petry, Christian Folin, Phillip Danault, Dale Weise, Brett Kulak, Xavier Ouellet