The Montreal Canadiens will be looking to shake off the cobwebs with Shea Weber in the lineup who makes his season debut against the Carolina Hurricanes.
It’s been way too long. It started with a blocked Jack Eichel shot and ended in Ottawa at the NHL100 Classic. The Montreal Canadiens have been without Shea Weber in the lineup for almost a year. But that’s all over now.
Weber is back and ready to shake up the rest of the league as he’ll be dressing for tonight’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes. The 33-year-old will be alongside David Schlemko on the top pair followed by Jeff Petry and Brett Kulak and Jordie Benn and Victor Mete. That leaves Mike Reilly and Xavier Ouellet on the sidelines.
Doesn’t make too much sense on the surface considering how well Reilly has looked save for his defensive blunders. But Claude Julien explained the decision linking it to Schlemko’s experience and puck-moving ability. He also said he would be a good match for Weber seeing as he’s been out for such a long time.
We’ll see how that plays out, but it wouldn’t be surprising for Julien to take out the blender if things go awry during the game. And that could see either Benn or Mete up there with Weber.
The forward lines haven’t changed as much from the group that took on the Boston Bruins.
Tatar – Danault – Gallagher | Drouin – Domi – Shaw | Hudon – Kotkaniemi – Lehkonen | Agostino – Chaput – Deslauriers
The Montreal Canadiens made it interesting in the third period coming back from a two-goal deficit thanks to efforts from Jonathan Drouin and Tomas Tatar on the power play. Unfortunately, the Bruins got a man-advantage goal of their own with less than three minutes to go which sealed the deal.
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Getting off to a good start will be key during this game. The Carolina Hurricanes haven’t been able to generate as much scoring, but when they get hold of the lead, they lock things down defensively and clog the neutral zone making it difficult to generate. That will be very tough on the Montreal Canadiens who rely on speed into and out zones.
Carolina’s lack of offence was evident in their Saturday game defeat at the hands of the New York Islanders 4-1. It was 4-0 by the halfway mark of the third period seeing captain Justin Williams get the sole tally on the power play.
Although scoring is an issue with the Hurricanes, they still have their weapon in Sebastian Aho. The 21-year-old leads the team in points with 7 goals and 18 assists followed by Teuvo Teravainen who has 18 points in 23 games. It’s also important to note that Teravainen has a knack of converting against the Habs and will need to be looked at.
It’ll be Carey Price vs Scott Darling, and on paper, the former easily has the advantage. Price had a decent save percentage at .919 despite getting the loss and has a 14-9-2 record against Carolina as a whole. There’s no reason why he shouldn’t give Habs fans something to marvel at, but the focus will be on Weber and how he plays.
This will be Weber’s first time wearing the ‘C’ since he was named captain earlier in the season. Perhaps he’ll put that rocket slapper to the test tonight and lead the Montreal Canadiens out of their four-game losing slump.