Montreal Canadiens Game Day: An opportunity to leapfrog into a spot
By Omar L
It’s a chance for the Montreal Canadiens to get back into a playoff spot with a rematch against the New York Islanders at Bell Centre.
Another day, another game, and another ride on the Montreal Canadiens train ride to the playoffs.
Their last was a much-needed win over the Philadelphia Flyers seeing the Habs take the season series. Montreal played a desperate game coming out hot out of the gate with Brett Kulak and Jesperi Kotkaniemi coming close to scoring in the first. Brendan Gallagher squeaked one in the final minute of the opening frame, and when the Flyers started to pile on Carey Price more in the second, Montreal scored another via Shea Weber.
But as good as the win was for the Montreal Canadiens, it’s about the next one, which is tonight at the Bell Centre. Two points get them even closer to the promised land, though they’ll need some love.
The team didn’t have a practice Wednesday, but they did have an optional skate in the afternoon. Knowing Claude Julien, he likely leaves the lines unchanged.
The Max Domi line with Artturi Lehkonen and Andrew Shaw had the best possession at 5v5 while the Nate Thompson line with Paul Byron and Jordan Weal led the team in scoring chances for at the same strength. Based on minutes played, it looks as if the Jesperi Kotkaniemi line is the new fourth line, but we’ll see if that changes against the New York Islanders.
Montreal Canadiens
Forward Lines
Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher
Artturi Lehkonen – Max Domi – Andrew Shaw
Jonathan Drouin – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Joel Armia
Paul Byron – Nate Thompson – Jordan Weal
Defence Pairs
Victor Mete – Shea Weber
Brett Kulak – Jeff Petry
Jordie Benn – Christian Folin
Goaltenders
Carey Price
Antti Niemi
The Islanders are coming off a tough loss to the Boston Bruins which saw them give up five goals. Another set of losses came to the team’s Valtteri Filppula is out four to six weeks while Jordan Eberle is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Filppula stings defensively but has been a depth producer for the Islanders all season with 15 goals and 14 assists. Eberle hasn’t produced as well as he has in year’s past, but his speed was a good part of the team’s top line. That said, he hasn’t been the best and apparently seeing Eberle scratched was something some of the fans wanted to see so it’ll be interesting to see a new name in his spot.
Lehner was in net for those five goals against Boston. He didn’t shy away from the truth of the team’s performance, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Barry Trotz go back to him and see how Lehner responds.
#Isles G Robin Lehner: "After the first few minutes, I felt like I kind of got into the game a little bit. Obviously I wanted to have a better return than this. There wasn’t much positive today."
— Andrew Gross (@AGrossNewsday) March 20, 2019
Called the first goal he allowed, Kuraly off his glove, a "bad goal."
New York Islanders
Forward Lines
Anders Lee – Matthew Barzal – Andrew Ladd
Josh Bailey – Brock Nelson – Michael Dal Colle
Anthony Beauvilier –Tom Kuhnhackl – Leo Komarov
Matt Martin – Casey Cizikas – Cal Clutterbuck
Defence Pairs
Nick Leddy – Scott Mayfield
Adam Pelech – Ryan Pulock
Thomas Hickey – Devon Toews
Goaltenders
The Montreal Canadiens are still far from being at a point where they can take any game lightly. As I mentioned before, this game can bring them closer to a spot and even in one if the Blue Jackets win.
If the Habs fight till the end and score then they shouldn’t have a problem getting another two points out of the Islanders.
New York Islanders at Montreal Canadiens
Time: 7:30 PM ET
Location: Bell Centre
Broadcast: TSN2, RDS, MSG+
Next. Patience is Needed With Drouin. dark
What Does the Scoreboard Say?
- Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Edmonton Oilers
- Carolina Hurricanes vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
- Philadelphia Flyers vs. Chicago Blackhawks
The Habs took the Flyers down, but they’re not completely out of it yet.