Canadiens Lineup

Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Jonathan Drouin – Max Domi – Andrew Shaw

Paul Byron – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Joel Armia 

Artturi Lehkonen – Nate Thompson – Dale Weise

Victor Mete – Shea Weber

Jordie Benn – Jeff Petry

Brett Kulak – Christian Folin

Carey Price – Antti Niemi

Christian Folin, Charles Hudon, Nicolas Deslauriers, Jordan Weal, Matthew Peca, Mike Reilly

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Game Report

Coming into this game, the Canadiens had not won a game away from the Bell Centre since January 18th. That equates to a five-game road losing streak. And the past two losses, to New Jersey and Toronto, were of the soul-crushing variety.

Safe to say, the game against the Red Wings was a must-win particularly with the standings so tight in the Eastern conference. 

Claude Julien made a few line adjustments and two personnel changes inserting Dale Weise for Matthew Peca and Christian Folin for Mike Reilly. 

Neither of the changes were especially consequential. Folin had a solid debut in a Canadiens jersey notching an assist and four shots on goal. Weise is only a shadow of his former self as the fourth line was on the ice for the Red Wings only goal of the game.

No, the dominating win by the Canadiens cannot be chalked up to an insightful tweak by the coaching staff. The credit should go to the players who were none too happy with their effort against the Devils.

And why did they appear listless in New Jersey? It could be that the players were expecting a little more than the rah-rah ‘I believe in you’ speech delivered by the general manager. A little help on the power-play and on the back end would not have cost the farm and could have provided a tangible gesture of support.

Call it a reward for the team’s surprisingly good play. Instead they got empty words.

But tonight, the players banded together and came out flying. “We brought that frustration (from New Jersey) into tonight’s game,” said Andrew Shaw.

Tomas Tatar got things started against his former mates just over six minutes in, out-muscling Filip Hronek after receiving a Hail-Mary pass from Jordie Benn.

For the remainder of the period, it was the Jesperi Kotkaniemi line who went to work dominating the opposition on most every shift. The Red Wings managed just five shots on goal in the opening frame.

The second period was a wide open affair with the teams combining for 26 shots. The story of the game was that Carey Price was sharp and Jimmy Howard was not. After Andrew Shaw, Brendan Gallagher and Max Domi pumped three more goals past Howard, the Red Wings folded their tents and packed it in for the night.

The Red Wings defensive coverage was horrendous. Howard did not come out for the third period after giving up six goals on 22 shots.

It was a the first hat trick of Shaw’s career and the first five-point game for Max Domi. While only managing one shot on goal, Jonathan Drouin had four assists and was a plus-5.

It was the type of effort the Canadiens needed and they were rewarded. Perhaps, that leaves just one inconvenient question: if Habs management doesn’t trust Antti Niemi to start him against the 29th place team in the league, when will he get a start?

Plus / Minus

▲  Carey Price, Tomas Tatar, Andrew Shaw, Max Domi, Jesperi Kotkaniemi

▼  Dale Weise