The Montreal Canadiens need to use Ryan Poehling and Jake Evans

Claude Julie has been playing Max Domi with Jordan Weal and Dale Weise, but perhaps playing him with Ryan Poehling and Jake Evans would yield better results.

Montreal Canadiens Twitter was an interesting environment after the Game 2 loss. There were two trending topics which saw fans have almost (emphasis on almost) polarizing feelings on. Those two topics being Max Domi and Claude Julien.

The Habs head coach went with his “run four lines such that Domi’s line is not a fourth line” plan for some time. The line does have pace and works hard, which has been to Julien’s benefit, but there is something that stands out about the trio. That being the talent gap.

You see this a lot when trying to evaluate prospects and whether they can make the jump to the NHL. After the 2018 NHL Draft, Jesperi Kotkaniemi was taking part in World Junior prep games for Team Finland over the summer. One thing you noticed off the bat was the then 18-year-old was making NHL passes that his linemates were not ready for or able to corral in transition. And on the reverse, the passes his linemates were making back to him were either not fast enough or wound up in his skates.

The Weal-Domi-Weise line has similar energy.

This is no disrespect to Weal and Weise as players. They are who they are, but Julien is exposing the line’s differences by continuously playing them together in this attempt to roll all four lines.

Both Weal and Weise had no shots on goal, although the former did direct a single shot towards Pittsburgh’s net. Domi, on the other hand, had five shots towards the goal, three actual shots on net, one of which was a legitimate scoring chance. The line itself had an expected goals for % over 50% at 5v5, and it was all because of Domi while they gave up just as much as they generated.

The Montreal Canadiens need to stop easing Domi into the lineup. Three minutes a period is far from enough for a player who has been generating on the team for the past two seasons. And if Julien is adamant on maintaining this structure, he should put Ryan Poehling and Jake Evans in for Weal and Weise.

They haven’t played much NHL hockey this season, so this is not to say that either would be saviours in the lineup. Poehling saw 27 games with the Habs after getting recalled from the Laval Rocket, putting up a goal and an assist while Evans played 13 scoring two goals and an assist.

Poehling has a style of play that is perfect for playoff activity. He’s physical and works along the boards but also has the hockey sense and awareness to play with skilled players and put himself in scoring situations. Evans has the speed and skill to be a contributor on the team and is almost always noticeable when he’s on the ice.

If these two are part of the future and are upgrades over Weise and Weal, why are they not playing now? The only reason that comes to mind would be the penalty kill, but neither are even on it as much if at all.

The Pittsburgh Penguins had seven power play opportunities in Game 1, and Weise was the only one of the two to kill any of them for a grand total of 22 seconds.

They don’t kill penalties. They don’t match well for a player like Domi. There’s no reason to continue this effort, especially when it looks like the Penguins have figured out what the Habs are trying to accomplish at 5v5.

Kotkaniemi has scored in back-to-back games, and even he still struggles to find ice time. What the Montreal Canadiens are doing is not working, and they can’t continue to rely on Carey Price, give up the chances they do and not score.

According to MoneyPuck, the spread between the scoring opportunities was even greater than it was in Game 1. That needs to change, and if it doesn’t, the Montreal Canadiens are finished.

Acknowledgements: Advanced stats from Natural Stat Trick.