It’ll be round two for the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday night and the return of Jonathan Droui and Andrew Sha.
If at first you don’t succeed, try again. The Montreal Canadiens will have another chance to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs in the preseason Wedensday night. This game doesn’t necessarily have any significance long-term, but it would be good for the Habs to get in a few wins ahead of next Thursday.
The line-up this time will be more on the Laval Rocket side. Only six players are an 100% lock to make the team. Habs fans will get another chance to see Jonathan Drouin at center, but with his new line-mate Brendan Gallagher. Andrew Shaw will also be returning to the ice. He hasn’t played since Montreal’s first preseason game against the Boston Bruins.
Shaw will be on a line with Michael McCarron and Alex Galchenyuk. As frustrating as it could be to see Galchenyuk continuously not be given a chance at center, this could be more for McCarron. Jacob de La Rose has played better as of late so Montreal may want to see if they can get a similar improvement out of McCarron if he plays with skill.
Related Story: Torrey Mitchell or Jacob de La Rose
#Habs lines vs #Leafs:
— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNWpg) September 27, 2017
Pacioretty - Drouin - Gallagher
Galchenyuk - McCarron - Shaw
Terry - De La Rose - Mitchell
Carr - Holland - Froese
Victor Mete has made Claude Julien‘s decision pretty difficult. He’s done well for himself playing with Shea Weber and has shown no signs of slowing down.
Someone out of the remaining four defencemen needs to show up. Brandon Davidson has looked worse each game and could be at risk of remaining in the press box. The real pressure is on Eric Gelinas since he doesn’t have a contract with the Habs. His window to prove why he deserves one is slowly closing.
#Habs D & G vs #Leafs:
— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNWpg) September 27, 2017
Projected pairs:
Mete - Weber
Streit - Gelinas
Davidson - Morrow
Price
Fucale
The most exciting thing to see will be the power play. TSN‘s John Lu also tweeted out a 1-4 model with Gallagher at the front of the net, Weber at the point, Galchenyuk in the high slot, and Drouin and Max Pacioretty on the walls. That’s a dangerous looking power play on paper and It will be interesting to see if they can put together some goals when given the opportunity.
Next: Line Predictions for the Laval Rocket
What are your expectations for tonight’s game? Let us know what you think down below.