Montreal Canadiens Shake Up Defence Pairings vs St. Louis Blues

The Montreal Canadiens take on the defending Stanley Cup champions tonight. They have shuffled their defence pairings in preparation for taking on the St. Louis Blues.

The Montreal Canadiens have started the season with much entertainment in their first four games. They have had several third pairing comebacks and clawed their way into points when trailing late in games.

However, there have been some concerns and red flags surrounding the team early in the season. Sure, a 1-1-2 record doesn’t look terrible, but it is far from fantastic. What’s worse is the lack of defensive responsibility on the team. The Toronto Maple Leafs scored five times against the Habs last week, the Buffalo Sabres scored four times, Detroit took out the Habs with a 4-2 victory and the Carolina Hurricanes scored three in regulation before winning in a shootout.

They have scored 3.5 goals per game so far which is great, but they have allowed 4.25 goals per game which is alarming. They have one of the best goaltenders in the world in Carey Price, but he can only do so much when the scoring chances are coming every few minutes.

In response to the struggling group of defenders, the Habs have shaken up their defence pairings. Tonight, they will face the St. Louis Blues who happen to be the defending Stanley Cup champions. A lacklustre defensive effort against the Blues tonight could turn ugly on the scoreboard very quickly.

The Canadiens have decided to shake up their defence pairings for tonight’s game.

The top pairing of Shea Weber and Victor Mete have been left together. The biggest change is Brett Kulak is going to be playing with Jeff Petry tonight. Kulak played really well with Petry last season, but has been a healthy scratch for the past two games. He played the first two contests on the third pairing with rookie Cale Fleury.

Kulak back in the top four pushes newcomer Ben Chiarot down to the third pairing. Chiarot signed a three-year contract in the summer, and has played huge minutes over the first four games of the season. He is a physical defender, but his skating hasn’t allowed him to mesh right away with the Canadiens speedy forwards.

He will play on the third pairing with Christian Folin. Folin was a healthy scratch for the first two games while Fleury played, but he stepped into the lineup for the previous two contests. He hasn’t exactly shone in that time, but he will only be asked to play 10-15 minutes with Chiarot against the Blues bottom six forwards.

The biggest change up front is Nick Suzuki has been bumped down to the fourth line with Nate Thompson and Paul Byron. He ended up there in the middle of the last two games, but will start on the fourth line for the first time. In his regular place, Jordan Weal jumps up to play next to Max Domi and Artturi Lehkonen.

Carey Price will start in goal. It will be interesting to watch if the new (old) defence pairings can be more reliable and efficient in their own zone than we have seen in the first four games of the season.