Montreal Canadiens Game Preview: Bounce Back Time

Saturday night’s game is in the past. The Montreal Canadiens will have a chance to get back in the win column Sunday against the New York Rangers.

So Montreal Canadiens fans are freaking out after Saturday’s loss. That makes sense considering the game was pretty much over after the first period.

It would be irresponsible to forget the game completely. Some players in the line-up absolutely have to be better. There were already question marks around Ales Hemsky and Mark Streit, but Jordie Benn has been really disappointing lately. That being said, they, as well as the whole team, have a chance to bounce back against the New York Rangers.

As much flack as Carey Price was getting last night, the majority of those goals that he let in can’t be held on him too much. Claude Julien made the right move sending Al Montoya out in the second period so Price could be fresh for the next game.

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The Rangers are coming off a an eventful loss of their own. They weren’t able to complete the 5-1 come back against the Toronto Maple Leafs and eventually lost 8-5. Head coach Alain Vigneault made a similar move to Julien and didn’t send Henrik Lundqvist out for the second.

There was no morning skate, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see a change to the line-up. If anything it’ll most likely be on the bottom pairing. Brandon Davidson would be the better option to make a regular season debut. Similarly to Benn, Julien has seen Davidson at his best and this may be an opportunity to let him show what he can do.

As Max Pacioretty said in the post-game interviews, there were too many players acting as passengers. Although they played a lot better in the second period, the Montreal Canadiens can’t afford to have these bad starts anymore. Additionally, they can’t hold a hot goaltender as an excuse not score.

The penalty kill has been able to generate offence with Phillip Danault against the Buffalo Sabres and Brendan Gallagher last game. That will need to be spread to even strength and the power play for the team to have success.

It was one bad game, every team is allowed to have that. What isn’t acceptable is for that to become a trend, but I doubt this team will let that continue.

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Will the Montreal Canadiens bounce back against the Rangers? Let us know what you think down below