Canadiens Lineup

Jonathan Drouin  – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Tomas Tatar – Max Domi – Andrew Shaw 

Artturi Lehkonen – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Joel Armia 

Matthew Peca  – Michael Chaput – Nicolas Deslauriers

Victor Mete – Shea Weber

Mike Reilly – Jeff Petry

Brett Kulak – Jordie Benn

Carey Price – Antti Niemi

Christian Folin, Charles Hudon, Kenny Agostino

Paul Byron (upper body)

Game Report

After the Canadiens impressive win against Winnipeg, many were ready to crown the Habs as contenders. But as mentioned in the last game report, elevating Montreal to the league’s elite may be a tad premature.

The Canadiens have made remarkable progress in their rebuild but aren’t yet in the class of the Maple Leafs. And despite the final score on Thursday night, the Habs wouldn’t prevail in the seven game series against the Jets.

On the Canadiens Connection podcast today, we discussed four areas of need before Montreal can count themselves as one of the major players in the NHL. Two of those deficiencies, the Canadiens fourth line and power-play, were painfully obvious against the Maple Leafs.

While the Habs scored a power-play goal by Brendan Gallagher, they generated nothing on a four-minute advantage just eight minutes into the game with John Tavares serving a double minor for high-sticking. And with a golden opportunity in overtime, the Canadiens squandered a 4-on-3 power-play looking completely befuddled.

Toronto has a decided edge in high-end talent and was the better team 5-on-5 with a significant advantage in scoring chances 23-16. But Carey Price outgoaled Frederik Andersen. The Leafs netminder was fooled on Tomas Tatar’s goal and seemed bothered after a collision later in the game with Tatar.

The Canadiens must rely on their best players to carry the load in any long playoff run. But the supporting cast is important too. And the Montreal fourth line is just not measuring up.

Tonight, Matthew Peca, Michael Chaput and Nicolas Deslauriers were a train wreck. The line was a collective minus-6 before the game was five minutes old. The trio was used sparingly for the rest of the game: Deslauriers (5:53), Chaput (7:53), Peca (8:07). 

Peca, Chaput and Deslauriers finished the game with a Corsi for Percentage of 16.67, meaning they were dominated fully and completely.  As a result, Canadiens top-9 had to log more minutes in a very high-tempo contest which would certainly take its toll in a playoff series.

By contrast, the Leafs fourth line played a significant role in the win. Andreas Johnson (13:01) had a goal, was plus-3 and was named third star. Par Lindholm (10:59) had an assist and Frederik Gauthier (8:22) was a plus-2.

Claude Julien has been choosing from Peca, Chaput, Deslauriers and Kenny Agostino, each of them career AHL’ers, to staff his fourth line. They may have sufficed when this team was expected to be a bottom feeder, but will only continue to be a liability as the Canadiens become a competitive team.

Newly re-acquired Dale Weise may be a help but he is not the answer alone. With success has come greater expectations.

Plus / Minus

▲  Carey Price, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Joel Armia, Brendan Gallagher

▼  Nicolas Deslauriers, Michael Chaput, Matthew Peca, Mike Reilly