Montreal Canadiens: An Arizona Coyotes team ripe for the picking
By Omar L
New Man in Town
With Artturi Lehkonen out of the lineup, the Montreal Canadiens recalled Nicolas Deslauriers from the Laval Rocket. Montreal originally acquired the 26-year-old from the Buffalo Sabres organization in exchange for Zach Redmond. He’s played more of an energy generating role on Laval but has scored three goals and had a total of five points in 13 games.
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He’ll most likely be making his Habs debut in this game which will be a big deal considering he’s from Quebec. Deslauriers will probably be on the fourth line along with Jacob de La Rose and Byron Froese. He was averaging about 11 minutes a night in Laval, all at even strength, so hopefully, Deslauriers works to his strengths to make an impact.
When you think about it, that line has the potential to be a strong unit, which would be ideal for this Coyotes team who have players like Luke Schenn and Zac Rinaldo itching to jolt the team in any way.
Special Team Opportunity
Both the Habs and the Coyotes are in the lower ranks of the NHL in both the power play and penalty kill. Even though their opponent may not be that dangerous as a whole; they have a handful of individual skill sets that can make Montreal pay if given a chance.
Montreal only has one power play goal in their last five games from Andrew Shaw. Jonathan Drouin, Alex Galchenyuk, and Shea Weber should have a field day if the ref’s arm goes up in their favour.
Hitting the Milestone
This game will mark Montreal’s 20th which is a universal point of thought for many around the league. The Habs are a victim of their poor start to the season, but key injuries to Lehkonen, Carey Price, and Al Montoya haven’t made things any easier.