Montreal Canadiens Ryan Poehling Gets First Preseason Action Tonight
The Montreal Canadiens take to the ice against the Florida Panthers in the annual Kraft Hockeyville game tonight in Bathurst, New Brunswick. All eyes will be on Ryan Poehling in his first preseason game with the Habs.
The Montreal Canadiens started their preseason with a 4-2 win over the New Jersey Devils on Monday night. Tonight, they continue their exhibition slate of games with a contest in Bathurst, New Brunswick against division rival Florida Panthers.
Artturi Lehkonen, Nate Thompson, Jake Evans and Nick Cousins scored for the Habs and goaltender Cayden Primeau had an exemplary debut in a Habs jersey. It was youngsters Nick Suzuki and Cale Fleury who really opened some eyes during that game which kind of tells you what to look for during a preseason game.
Sure, a veteran like Shea Weber launching a point shot that ends up being tipped by Lehkonen for a goal is nice. However, we really just want to see the young players who are on the bubble to judge if they are ready for prime time action yet.
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That is why all eyes will be on Ryan Poehling tonight. The 2017 first round draft pick turned pro for the very last game of the regular season a year ago. He scored a hat trick in that contest and is now trying to prove he is worthy of a roster spot with the Canadiens to begin this season. He will be flanked by Nick Cousins and Riley Barber for this affair.
Can Poehling force the Canadiens management team to keep him in the NHL to start the year? It would take an impressive preseason for that to happen and that begins tonight.
Another young player to keep an eye on is Otto Leskinen. The 22 year old defender scored 31 points in 57 Liiga games for Kalpa in Finland last season. He is a great skater and puck-mover and it will be interesting to see how close he is to being ready for an NHL role.
The Habs also have an interesting mixture in their top six tonight as they all played NHL games last season, but not necessarily together like this:
Forward Lines
Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Jonathan Drouin
Charles Hudon – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Joel Armia
Nick Cousins – Ryan Poehling – Riley Barber
Matthew Peca – Lucas Vejdemo – Alex Belzile
Defence Pairings
Ben Chiarot – Jeff Petry
Mike Reilly – Christian Folin
Otto Leskinen – Cale Fleury
Goaltenders
Charlie Lindgren
Michael McNiven
This is a big opportunity for Poehling as it is going to take a good first impression for the Canadiens to move him up the lineup to play with NHL caliber players. I’d expect to see him used in all situations, similar to how Nick Suzuki was handled two nights ago.
It will also be fun to see Ben Chiarot in a Habs jersey for the first time. The hulking left defender will be partnered with Jeff Petry and is expected to lock down a role in the Habs top four.
Charles Hudon is being given a prime opportunity to play with Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Joel Armia. Cale Fleury made a great first impression in the opening game of the preseason. Look for him to be even more confident moving the puck up ice and being physical in his own zone.
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