CANADIENS
Montreal

PREDATORS
Nashville

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Galchenyuk – Plekanec – Gallagher
Pacioretty – Eller – Andrighetto
Fleischmann – De la Rose – Byron
Lessio – Mitchell – Smith-Pelly[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Markov- Subban
Beaulieu – Barberio
Emelin – Pateryn[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:

Condon
Scrivens

Scratches:  Dale Weise, Tom Gilbert
Injured reserve:  Carey Price, Daniel Carr, Brian Flynn, Jeff Petry, David Desharnais

Game Report

The last two games at the Bell Centre have ended in a shootout.

“You’ve got to stay positive right now. It’s a point, we’ll take it. We’ve got three of the last four.” — Mike Condon

That’s truly the definition  of searching for roses in a bed of thorns. The thing is the one point simply ensures that the Canadiens will miss the playoffs (now a 5.2 per cent chance) AND miss out on a top-5 draft pick.  Montreal leads the so-called ‘sadness’ rankings (see below in the social media section.)

Habs fans can be equally disappointed whether watching the Canadiens, especially a game like Monday night, or looking to the future.  What has happened to this organization?

With the Habs undoubtedly being sellers at the deadline, Monday’s game opened with a press box packed with scouts, including Stan Bowman.  The Blackhawks GM claimed that he was there on World Cup business. But one of the best general managers in the game is capable of walking an chewing gum at the same time. Nashville’s GM David Poile was seen huddling with Marc Bergevin in the media lounge prior to the game.

So who were they in Montreal to see? Presumably the Canadiens pending unrestricted free agents would be of interest: Dale Weise, Tom Gilbert, Paul Byron, Tomas Fleischmann and Ben Scrivens.  Problem is that Gilbert is injured, Weise had the flu and signs point to the Habs needing Scrivens until the end of the year with Price on the sidelines. And the organization likes Byron.

Which leaves Fleischmann.

With that as the backdrop, the Canadiens took the ice. Just 1:39 in, Nathan Beaulieu recorded the Habs first shot on goal, a harmless backhand by Nathan Beaulieu. Twelve minutes would pass before Montreal got it’s second shot on goal. In the meantime, Nashville had eight, scoring the game’s first goal on their second shot.

A team that is unprepared. A netminder who gives up an early goal. An offense that isn’t creating chances.  We have seen it many times this season.

Fortunately, the Canadiens have that strategic mastermind behind the bench.  What did he do?  He juggled the lines.

And the Habs finished regulation with one goal.

The Canadiens season has imploded and the organization seems content with the status quo. Clearly, fans are not.

The Habs are in DC on Wednesday to play the Capitals.

~~~

▲     Lars Eller, Andrei Markov, Brendan Gallagher, Jacob De la Rose, Tomas Fleischmann

▼     Lucas Lessio, Mark Barberio, Torrey Mitchell, Devante Smith-Pelly

1. Craig Smith  NSH
2. Roman Josi  NSH
3. Mike Condon  MTL

• “Both goalies made key saves at the right times. It was a tight game – the kind of hockey you see at the end of the year. There wasn’t a lot of space with the puck. We played against a very good hockey team, a good defensive team that skates and supports the play on offense. We were able to hold them off. It could have gone either way.”

Brendan Gallagher

• “I think early on in the game we were throwing pucks out of the zone right to them. Later on we were able to skate through the neutral zone with it and make their (defensemen) work. We were able to create some turnovers. After the first 10 minutes of the game I thought it became a pretty even game.”

Predators coach Peter Laviolette

• “Some overtimes we haven’t played very well. Tonight I thought we played it a lot better and were more patient and set it up for a couple of shots that we liked, and that was one of them, and it didn’t go for us, but some of the times we have done some good things and haven’t capitalized and it goes right back the other way and scores.”
• “So I thought we did a better job tonight just being patient and waiting for our opportunities and trying to control the overtime, trying to control the puck, so that was good. It was good the guys were able to bury it in the shootout.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com