Game Day: Will The Montreal Canadiens Step Up?

It looks like David Desharnais will dress so long as he feels well enough, and it brings around the following PROJECTED lineup with notes on each line below:

CANADIENS

Max Pacioretty – Tomas Plekanec – Brendan Gallagher

This line needs to step up. You can make all of the excuses you want, but there’s no reasoning their lack of output so far. They know how to play together, they’ve got more than enough talent to make things happen, and they know they’re the ones who need to provide the most scoring. As Nike says: Just do it. However, to do it, they’ll have to return to Game 1 style shooting, which was outstanding from this line. The goals didn’t come, but it was a game they could have won with a few bounces.

Shots on net Game 1 (19): Pacioretty (5), Plekanec (5), Gallagher (9)
Shots on net Game 2 (9): Pacioretty (3), Plekanec (2), Gallagher (4)

Alex Galchenyuk – David Desharnais – Dale Weise

Hopefully DD can bring energy to this line despite being ill lately. But, the focus on this line has to be Alex Galchenyuk who really dropped off last game and made way too many crucial mistakes. He needs to play a smarter game. Oh, and how about a little scoring from the second line? It’s going to be hard considering how many shots we can expect from this line:

Shots on net Game 1 (8): Galchenyuk (2), Desharnais (3), Weise (3)
Shots on net Game 2 (0): Galchenyuk (0), Desharnais (DNP), Weise (0)

Brandon Prust – Lars Eller – PA Parenteau

This is my favourite line of the night if it holds true. I think these guys will break out and put on a good show. Whether or not it results in some scoring, nobody knows, but I love the potential here since Prust will be motivated to make amends, Eller has been the best player in this series, and Parenteau has the freshest legs on the ice.

Shots on net Game 1 (6): Prust (2), Eller (2), Parenteau (2)
Shots on net Game 2 (4): Prust (0), Eller (2), Parenteau (2)

Jacob De La Rose – Torrey Mitchell – Devante Smith-Pelly

The “stop them” and energy line, I expect decent pressure from this line and who knows, maybe they’ll play hero. I would love to see De La Rose get on the scoreboard for once, but so long as these guys don’t make big mistakes, I’ll be satisfied. This is my surprise line, because I think they played most confidently in Game 2 (as you can tell from how they played, their +/- rating, and shots taken);.

Shots on net Game 1 (4): De La Rose (1), Mitchell (1), Smith-Pelly (2)
Shots on net Game 2 (7): De La Rose (3), Mitchell (3), Smith-Pelly (1)

Andrei Markov – P.K. Subban

Subban needs to play a smart game, no penalties, and Markov needs to block the right passing lanes. I’d like to see these two learn from Jeff Petry‘s goal in Game 2 and make sure they hit the net first, go for power later. The more they hit the net, the better the chances they’ll score.

Alexei Emelin – Jeff Petry

The best pairing in the series for the Habs, just keep up the great work. Emelin has been laying the bodies out, and Petry has been a great puck carrier throughout.

Tom Gilbert – Greg Pateryn

Maybe it’s just me, but every time these guys are on the ice I seem to hold my breath a little. They just seem to have the hardest time of the three pairings in getting out of the defensive zone. If they play a clean game and can avoid transition mistakes, it’ll bode well for the Habs chances of coming out of Game 3 with a win.

Carey Price

Be Carey Price, and don’t allow that one painful goal.

Backup: Dustin Tokarski

Scratched: Manny Malhotra, Brian Flynn, Mike Weaver, Sergei Gonchar, Mike Condon

Inj: Nathan Beaulieu

One point of note is that there’s a possibility that DD shifts down to the 3rd line and Lars Eller takes his spot on the 2nd line. It all depends on whether or not DD plays. If he doesn’t play, expect Eller to centre Weise and Galchenyuk.

OTHER GAME NOTES

Lars Eller got some power play time in Game 2 and continued to win key face-offs.
It will be interesting to see how the refereeing is and how the Canadiens react to being called for penalties. I know we’ll be monitoring this closely.
This is a MUST WIN which the Habs need to put the Lightning on edge and to tie up the series before returning to Montreal.

FINAL THOUGHT

The greatest pre-game quote I’ve read for Game 3 came from Max Pacioretty:

"“We’ve got 25 leaders on this team. It’s up to every single person on this team, whether you’re 19 years old or 35 years old, to be a leader. That’s what we’re asking from everyone,” concluded Pacioretty. “Don’t worry about the end result. Don’t worry about winning the series. Worry about winning your battles. Worry about winning each shift. That goes to winning periods, and hopefully at the end of the day that gives us the outcome that we want.”"

Will the Montreal Canadiens step up and have 25 leaders as Max states, or will only a few show up? Even if they do show up, will it be enough and will they get the lucky bounces?

I’m going out on a limb here and saying yes, this will be a decisive win for the Canadiens and will shift the momentum slightly to their favour.

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