CANADIENS
Montreal

OILERS
Edmonton

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Pacioretty – Plekanec – Gallagher
Eller – Galchenyuk – Flynn
Fleischmann – Desharnais – Weise
Byron – Mitchell – Smith-Pelly[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Markov – Subban
Emelin – Petry
Beaulieu – Gilbert[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:

Price
Condon

Scratches: Greg Pateryn, Jarred Tinordi, Alex Semin
Injured reserve:
Suspended: Zack Kassian

Game Report

Post-game, Tomas Plekanec acknowledged the obvious: in a 60-minute game, the Canadiens had played just 20. After taking a 3-0 first period lead, the Habs managed just 10 shots on goal in the final 40 minutes.

Max Pacioretty called the effort embarrassing. “They’ve got some great players, but at the end of the day, we didn’t play our brand of hockey for two periods. That was the difference in the game,” said the Canadiens captain.

Not Habs hockey. Well, not what we have been used to seeing from the current edition of the Canadiens. The tactic of getting a lead then sitting back and turning over the game to their star goaltender was the trademark of the 2014-15 Habs.

It’s in the comfort zone of the Canadiens bench boss. So is Therrien’s annoying habit of trusting his favorite player, David Desharnais. And Desharnais burned the coach, his teammates and fans with yet another soft play in his own zone leading to the Oilers game-winning goal.

The frustrating part for fans was watching the second period. For the first two thirds of the frame, it seemed that no one was interested in playing. The Habs were comfortable with their 3-0 lead and Edmonton was demoralized. Both teams were going through the motions.

Rather than taken advantage of a crippled opponent, the Canadiens stopped skating, stopped working and stopped winning battles. The Oilers slowly regained their confidence and were given a huge boost with a late power-play goal in the period by Leon Draisaitl.

With Max Pacioretty taking a penalty at the 20:00 mark of the second, the Oilers were given a full two minute advantage with a fresh sheet of ice to start the third. While they didn’t score, the momentum was clearly on their side. The Oilers youthful enthusiasm became a runaway train in the third that bowled over the Canadiens.

The Habs needed coaching adjustments in the second period and they didn’t get them. Was the dump-out game just so pleasing to Therrien’s palate that he was reluctant to intervene?

The coach’s decision to have Desharnais on the ice in the last minute of the game is unforgivable. Shelve the boyish crush already. Desharnais and his line have routinely given up the most goals and scoring chances in most games this season.

But the most biggest coaching error was made prior to the game: scratching Alex Semin and inserting Brian Flynn on the second line. The Canadiens do not have top-6 scoring depth. Flynn has been the weakest link of a strong fourth line but does not possess second line talent.

Playing in his first game of the season, Paul Byron was a non-factor.

So Therrien dispatched Semin to the press box to send him a message. What was the message received by Russian? Alex Galchenyuk picked up the Canadiens third goal. But without Semin, the Galchenyuk line was disjointed and ineffective for most of the game.

The lineup move backfired.

The early toast of the NHL has come crashing back to earth. The Canadiens will need a full 60-minute effort in Calgary to stop the bleeding on this road trip.

▲     Torrey Mitchell, Brendan Gallagher, Jeff Petry

▼     David Desharnais, Michel Therrien, Dale Weise

1. Leon Draisaitl   EDM
2. Connor McDavid  EDM
3. P.K. Subban  MTL

• “We had a really strong start, we were playing the right way and we started the second period wrong. We tried to be fancy, and it was really frustrating to see our team play that way, and we got what we deserved. I didn’t like our attitude starting the second period; it’s simple.“

Torrey Mitchell

• “We were on our toes in the first, and then we were on our heels after that. It seemed like we took our foot off the pedal, and then we were chasing it. That’s the best description for it. At the start of the second period, they were just faster than us and more aggressive than us, and we couldn’t get it back.“

Max Pacioretty

• “It shouldn’t happen to good teams. We got to make sure it doesn’t happen again. There’s not much to say other than that. We let our foot off the gas. We think we’re untouchable when we get up on a lead like that. Leave our goalie stranded … I’m a little bit embarrassed. But we have a game tomorrow, we got to come back and prove that this was a fluke and that’s not our team.”
• “Second period, we got fancy, got a little confident. Stopped putting pucks on net. Our game is putting pucks on net, working hard on the forecheck, digging for pucks, 50/50 battles. That wasn’t there after the first period. That’s all of us. That’s on every one of us. It shouldn’t happen. We got to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Carey Price

• “McDavid is a dynamic player. There is no question he’s going to be an excellent addition to this league. He’s exciting to watch, his talent is really outstanding. I’m really happy for the Oilers fans. They’re going to be able to watch that for the next 15 to 20 years.“

Oilers head coach Todd McLellan

• “Let’s face it. I could be standing here trying to explain a real ugly game, but the good thing is we stuck with it. It goes back to that theme of holding your hand a little bit longer, trying to be proud players and, obviously, nobody was happy with our first period or the start. But we stuck with it. We held a very good club to very few opportunities and chances in the last two periods. We checked our way to a win. It’s something we can be proud of. It’s something we can build off of.“
• “I’ve been asked a lot of questions about moral victories and how long it takes to get a win. We got our win and with the way we won it, it should be something we can build off now or we will take our foot off the gas and be happy and we’re going to have to start over. We’re a young team, we’re going to figure that out and take the test on Saturday.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com