A West world mentality alteration for the Montreal Canadiens
By Omar L
The Montreal Canadiens are now on the road making their first stop in the mountains to take on the Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center.
There is one objective for the Montreal Canadiens in tonight’s game: respond. The team came out flat-footed against the Boston Bruins on Monday with turnover after turnover gifting the opposition with key scoring chances.
As much as the game was about the defence, the forwards had issues as well. Brendan Gallagher told media that it was the worst game of his career and given the kind of player he is, it’s tough to argue against that. But it wasn’t only Gallagher, Jonathan Drouin, Phillip Danault, and Mike Reilly had a tough performance as well.
Luckily the loss didn’t take the Habs out of their wild-card spot. They are however in the second hole of that region, and with the Pittsburgh Penguins in hot pursuit of a playoff berth, earning points has to be the priority moving forward.
Which brings us to the start of Montreal’s west-coast travels starting with the Colorado Avalanche.
The Avalanche have been one of the more electric teams in the NHL this season largely in part of their top line of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Gabriel Landeskog.
Rantanen is still at the top of league scoring with 15 goals and 41 assists in 34 games while MacKinnon is beneath him with 53 points. Colorado did have that offence shut down momentarily in their 4-1 loss to the New York Islanders. Landeskog had the lone goal – his 22nd – but it wasn’t enough to trigger a comeback for the Avalanche.
Keeping that line will do a lot for the Montreal Canadiens given the relatively sparse scoring from the rest of the team.
Colorado Avalanche
Forward Lines
Gabriel Landeskog – Nathan Mackinnon – Mikko Rantanen
Tyson Jost – J.T. Compher – Sven Andrighetto
Matthew Nieto – Carl Soderberg – Matt Calvert
Colin Wilson – Alexander Kerfoot – Gabriel Bourque
Defence Pairs
Patrik Nemeth – Nikita Zadorov
Goaltenders
The Habs had a hard practice at the University of Denver and look determined to turn the page on what was a bad night overall. Additionally, Claude Julien has decided to make some changes to the lineup.
Montreal Canadiens
Forward Lines
Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher
Jonathan Drouin – Max Domi – Andrew Shaw
Paul Byron – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Artturi Lehkonen
Kenny Agostino – Michael Chaput – Charles Hudon
Goaltenders
The defence pairings haven’t been announced officially yet, but we do know that Brett Kulak is coming out while Victor Mete is going in. The Montreal Canadiens recalled the young defenceman after the Boston game to join the team on the road trip. Mete is also confirmed to play, and the Noah Juulsen demotion leaves room for Jordie Benn to return to the roster.
Based on Julien’s tendencies, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the pairings play out as such:
Defence Pairs
Mike Reilly – Jeff Petry
Victor Mete – Jordie Benn
Julien has gone with a similar blueline in the past, although, now would be a good time to re-examine the Mete-Weber combination from last season. Of course, it’ll depend on the state of the game as defending, especially against the Avalanche’s top line, will be the decider.
Next. The Juulsen-Mete swap. dark
Price is also still on the hunt for his 300th career victory which should put him in his usual mindset. Hopefully, the Montreal Canadiens give him some support on the path towards the milestone.
Broadcast: Sporstnet, Sportsnet 360
Game Start Time: 8:30 PM ET