Hockey is finally back as the Montreal Canadiens start their 2017-2018 regular season Thursday night against the Buffalo Sabres.
Going to go a little old school WWE here. Finally! Hockey has come back for the Montreal Canadiens! In case you didn’t get what I was going for there, that was a Rock reference.
It’ll be a night of firsts throughout the line-up. Jonathan Drouin, Karl Alzner, and Ales Hemsky will be playing their first regular season game in a Habs uniform. Charles Hudon will be playing his first season opener after giving Claude Julien no reason to send him down. Then there’s the big one as 19-year-old Victor Mete will be making his NHL debut.
Mete defied the odds and managed to steal a spot on this year’s opening roster. Sure you could say that David Schlemko being injured made it easier, but it wasn’t handed to him. According to Pierre Lebrun, Mete will have a lot of support going his way.
Habs rookie Victor Mete says there's about "40-50" friends and family coming down from his native Woodbridge, Ontario for the game tonight
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) October 5, 2017
There aren’t any surprises in terms of line combinations and defence pairings. All will be as it was during the last few practices.
#Habs: La formation pour ce soir.
— J-F Chaumont (@JFChaumontJDM) October 5, 2017
Pacioretty-Drouin-Gallagher
Galchenyuk-Danault-Shaw
Hudon-Plekanec-Lehkonen
Byron-JDLR-Hemsky
#Habs: À la ligne bleue…
— J-F Chaumont (@JFChaumontJDM) October 5, 2017
Mete-Weber
Alzner-Petry
Benn-Streit
What will be interesting to see is what remains and what changes by the end of the game.
Fourth line center and the bottom pair are still not 100% set. If Mete continues to remain on the Montreal Canadiens then something else has to give. Jacob de La Rose and Mark Streit could lose their job if Julien doesn’t like what he sees from them.
The plan of attack should be to strike fast and strike first. There are a lot of uncertainties on the Buffalo Sabres, but in particular Robin Lehner. Additionally, there’s going to be more pressure on Jack Eichel to carry the team more now that he signed his new extension.
Something else to keep in mind is that this will be Nathan Beaulieu‘s first game against his former team. The 24-year-old was traded to the Sabres before the Expansion Draft and apparently he’ll have a chip on his shoulder against the Canadiens
It’ll be good for Montreal to have a strong start to their season. Hopefully they can walk out of Buffalo with the two points.
Next: Keys to a Successful Regular Season
What are your expectations for this game? Can they pull off the win? Let us know your thoughts down below.