CANADIENS
Montreal

OILERS
Edmonton

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings 

[one_half]Tatar – Danault – Gallagher
Drouin – Domi – Shaw
Agostino – Kotkaniemi – Lehkonen
Deslauriers – Peca – Hudon
[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Benn – Petry
Schlemko – Mete
Juulsen – Reilly

[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders

Niemi
Price

Scratches

Scherbak, Ouellet, Alzner

Injuries

Weber, Byron, Armia

Game Report 

The Oilers are the weakest of the three teams that the Canadiens will meet in Western Canada. So, perhaps on paper, it made sense to start Antti Niemi in Edmonton.

Besides, the Oilers are struggling for a team with higher expectations this season. They came into this game on a four-game losing streak. And lately, they are having trouble lighting the lamp, having scored just six goals in those four games.

Well, they made it up in a hurry. Edmonton scored six goals tonight against a very shaky Antti Niemi and a porous Montreal defence.

While Niemi made a couple of nice saves late in the second period, he struggled from the drop of the puck giving up a weak goal just three minutes into the game.

A short time later, it was Leon Draisaitl ringing a shot off the left post. Niemi didn’t move. Then an Adam Larsson point shot fortunately hit Niemi. The Canadiens goaltender didn’t have a clue where the shot was coming from.

Four of the six goals allowed by Niemi simply shouldn’t happen at this level. It continues the shaky play that has plagued the Habs backup since the pre-season.

The Canadiens defence can be easily exploited even by a team on a losing streak. The Oilers skill exposed Habs defencemen while forwards were mesmerized by puck watching.

While many fans enthusiastically look forward to the return of Shea Weber, he certainly won’t cure all the problems with the Canadiens defensive game. Marc Bergevin failed to upgrade the defence in the off-season and Claude Julien has made the choice to ice forwards who have been a defensive liability.

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▼  Antti Niemi, Mike Reilly, David Schlemko, Matthew Peca, Nicolas Deslauriers, Charles Hudon

1. Leon Draisaitl  EDM
2. Matt Benning  EDM
3. Kris Russell  EDM

• “You can’t win games 5-4 and 6-5 all the time. We’ve talked about that, and it’s time to buckle down and execute. You can’t win in a shootout every game, so we’re going to have to address that.”

Max Domi

• “You can’t give up that many chances against a team like that. They’re going to make you pay, and that’s what happened tonight.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com