Montreal Canadiens Hoping Small Tweaks Lead To Big Changes Tonight

Montreal Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme has been reluctant to make major changes to his lineup since taking over as the team’s head coach.

He pretty much refuses to change a winning lineup, no matter how poorly they play, and he doesn’t make much use of his depth and taxi squad to shake things up or keep players fresh.

After a laughably embarrassing loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, it might have been time for some major changes to the lineup, but it appears the coach will hope a few small tweaks will lead to big changes in the way the team performs.

Instead of inserting rookie Cole Caufield into the lineup, or scratching a veteran like Eric Staal, Ducharme is going with the same 18 skaters that failed to show up against the worst team in the Canadian Division just two days ago. He basically made a minor swap of right wingers in preparation for tonight’s contest.

Nick Suzuki played the last game with Tyler Toffoli and Joel Armia while Eric Staal was on the fourth line with Artturi Lehkonen and Corey Perry. Those lines won’t change.

Phillip Danault played the last few games with Tomas Tatar and Paul Byron while Jesperi Kotkaniemi was on a line with Jonathan Drouin and Josh Anderson. Now, Byron and Anderson have switched places.

That’s literally the only change to the lineup. Ben Chiarot and Shea Weber are still paid together while Joel Edmundson and Jeff Petry round out the top four. Brett Kulak will play third pairing minutes with Alexander Romanov.

Carey Price starts in goal.

For a team that has looked terrible in its past three games, including two fairly embarrassing losses to the Calgary Flames and Ottawa Senators as well as a lacklustre victory over the Flames, a few more changes may be needed.

Perhaps a youngster that can skate well like Jake Evans would be a nice add to the lineup instead of Eric Staal spinning his skates in quicksand like he has been doing since arriving in Montreal. Would it really hurt to try Romanov in the top four with Weber for a night? Does it make any sense to have Caufield eating popcorn in the press box when he could be the team’s best weapon on the power play?

I suppose it all makes sense to the head coach. Hopefully a few very minor tweaks can lead to a much better effort from the team tonight.