CANADIENS
Montreal

LIGHTNING
Tampa Bay

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Pacioretty – Galchenyuk – Gallagher
Eller – Plekanec – Carr
Danault – Desharnais – Andrighetto
Byron – Mitchell – Flynn[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Markov – Pateryn
Emelin – Johnston
Hanley – Dietz
[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:

Condon
Lindgren

Scratches:  Mark Barberio, Victor Bartley, Nathan Beaulieu, Mike Brown, Brett Lernout, Lucas Lessio, Stefan Matteau, P.K. Subban
Injured reserve:  Tom Gilbert, Jeff Petry, Carey Price

Game Report

30 goals. Twenty-eight players have reached the milestone this season in the NHL. And two of them are Montreal Canadiens. Alex Galchenyuk and Max Pacioretty each scored twice on Saturday night to get to thirty.

Brendan Gallagher, Galchenyuk, and Pacioretty, picked up eight points against the Lightning. As the season comes to a close, the Canadiens truly have a top line.

‘If only’ someone had thought of putting Galchenyuk with Pacioretty earlier in the season?

Well, Therrien tried it but didn’t like it. The experiment lasted two games. The duo was pointless against Pavel Datsyuk and Patrice Bergeron. How could they fail to register a point against two of the best defensive centres in the league.

So the idea was abandoned.

Tonight, when asked if he regretted giving up so quickly on the pair, Therrien said, “Earlier in the season, Alex was not ready for that type of challenge. You could tell. That’s why we took a step back.”

Yes, a step back indeed. Therrien reinserted David Desharnais at centre with Pacioretty on his wing. With this combination during the month of December, the Canadiens had a record of 3-11-0. Desharnais had a grand total of two assists in 14 games for the month.

Perhaps that was not just a step back, but a giant leap. And mostly self-inflicted.

Yet word is that Marc Bergevin believes that Therrien deserves another season behind the Canadiens bench.  Last time Montreal had two 30 goal scorers was 2011-’12.  That season Eric Cole had 35 goals with Pacioretty picking up 33.

The Habs missed the playoffs that season too and cleaned house with the general manager and head coach both being fired. At the subsequent NHL Entry Draft the following June, Montreal selected Galchenyuk with the third overall pick.

This season, not withstanding a change in the draft lottery, the Canadiens will be picking ninth. On Monday, Bergevin will be looking back at the season just completed and give us a glimpse into his off-season plans. The question is, will he begin to earn back the trust of the fans that has been so badly damaged this season?

But in game 82 of the season, the players did their job with Galchenyuk, Pacioretty, Gallagher and Andrei Markov leading the way. With two assists, Markov passed Rocket Richard on the Canadiens all-time assist list. Despite the difficult season, the team received a warm ovation from the Bell Centre faithful.

They now await the significant changes that will bring their team back to the playoffs. It remains to be seen if management will adjust their priorities to set the pursuit of a Cup as their primary goal.

The NHL playoffs are scheduled to begin on Wednesday, April 13th.

~~~

▲     Max Pacioretty, Alex Galchenyuk, Brendan Gallagher, Andrei Markov

▼

1. Alex Galchenyuk  MTL
2. Max Pacioretty MTL
3. Jonathan Drouin  TBL

• “We’re disappointed even though we finished the season with a win. The only thing I can say is we’re all very disappointed.“
• “Earlier in the season, Alex was not ready for that type of challenge (Galchenyuk at centre with Max Pacioretty.) You could tell. That’s why we took a step back.”
• “Since [Alex Galchenyuk] has been with us, every year he’s getting better. There is still a lot of work to be done. But I really like his progression as a player.”

Max Pacioretty

• “In between the second and third (period) Madame Beliveau pulled me aside and said, ‘I want you to score another,’ so I can’t let her down when she expects you to do that, and when (Brendan Gallagher) made that great play on the empty net, I thought of her.“

Alex Galchenyuk

• “I’m glad we created as a line today and I’m glad I was able to score and (Max Pacioretty) got his 30 too, which makes this even better.”

Lightning coach Jon Cooper

• “After (Tyler Johnson) went down and everyone was concerned, I think the whole tide of the game changed after that.“

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com