CANADIENS
Montreal

RANGERS
New York

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Pacioretty- Galchenyuk – Byron
Eller – Plekanec – Mitchell
Danault – Desharnais – Andrighetto
Matteau – McCarron – Brown[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Markov- Emelin
Beaulieu – Pateryn
Hanley – Dietz
[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:

Condon
Scrivens

Scratches:  Lucas Lessio, Jacob De la Rose, Mark Barberio, Victor Bartley, Brendan Gallagher (lower-body), P.K. Subban (upper-body)
Injured reserve:  Carey Price, Daniel Carr, Brian Flynn, Jeff Petry, Tom Gilbert

Game Report

The Canadiens gave up three goals in the second period on Thursday night in Detroit. On Saturday, it was four goals allowed (on eight shots) in the middle frame.

Post-game when Michel Therrien was asked about the reason for the Habs recent struggles in the second period the coach said, “I have no idea.”

It’s quite possible that had he been asked for the reason for the Canadiens play in the second half of the season, Therrien would have answered the same way. Or about December’s historic collapse.

It is abundantly clear that the coach is out of answers. Or more accurately, that he never had them in the first place.  ‘Let Carey Price mask the flaws and the lack of a NHL-caliber system while I enjoy playing my favorites’ has been his mantra.

Price has also covered for the ineptitude of the general manager as well. Marc Bergevin has failed miserably in making a significant move to improve his top six and put in place a development system that is helping to devalue prospects.

And at the top, Geoff Molson has fostered an organizational culture that does not value merit. That has existed since day one. In one of his first decisions as owner Molson insisted on drafting home grown Louis Leblanc at the Bell Centre in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

The player that his hockey people would have taken in that same spot, Chris Kreider, scored twice on Saturday night and added an assist. Kreider was named second star of the game.

And Leblanc is struggling to keep a job in hockey at any level. He has played just 15 games this season for three different teams in the Swiss league, the KHL and the Slovak league. He was a colossal bust.

The Montreal Canadiens did not become one of the most successful franchises in sports by having competing priorities. Fans deserve to know whether there is an honest commitment to winning a Cup or will just continue to hold to their political agenda.

The Canadiens host the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday at the Bell Centre.

~~~

▲     Greg Pateryn, Nathan Beaulieu, Lars Eller, Phillip Danault, Sven Andrighetto

▼     Max Pacioretty, Alex Galchenyuk, Paul Byron, Alexei Emelin, Andrei Markov, Stefan Matteau

1. Derick Brassard  NYR
2. Chris Kreider  NYR
3. Derek Stepan  NYR

• “We got beat by a better team, with more depth, more maturity; it was as simple as that.”

Max Pacioretty

• “That was a bad second period. It’s just the costly mistakes. We’re in games, it’s just NHL teams are too good to not take advantage of turnovers. And a guy like (Chris)  Kreider, you know he’s going to win every foot race that you give him. So part of that is also knowing the League and knowing who you’re out against at times, knowing when you’re against the top line, knowing you’re against a fast guy like that, and we just have to be a bit smarter.”
• “We made some good plays but it’s the costly mistakes that keep hurting us. We’ve been competitive in each game we play but NHL teams are just too good not to take advantage of mistakes.”

Lars Eller

• “We did not play a full sixty minutes tonight; it is as simple as that. There are stretches in the game where we do execute well but there are also times where we repeat mistakes. Against a team like the Red Wings or the Rangers, you have to compete for a full 60 minutes, you aren’t going to win by playing 40 minutes of good hockey.“

Rangers coach Alain Vigneault

• “We were able to capitalize early on a few of their mistakes. They’ve got a couple of young (defensemen) out there and we were able to put a little bit of pressure on them. And our power play came up big. The first two opportunities, you score both times, so up by three after two, you’re in pretty good shape.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com