Montreal Canadiens: Three Things To Love About Lineup Changes For Game 4

The Montreal Canadiens find themselves with their backs up against a wall in the Stanley Cup Final. They lost the first three games of the series and will now have to defeat the powerhouse Tampa Bay Lightning four consecutive times.

It is a difficult task for sure, as the Lightning are a deep and talented team and the toughest opponent anyone has faced in the NHL Playoffs in the past two seasons.

After using the same lineup for the first three games of the series, the coaching staff finally made some adjustments heading into Game 4.

The one changed getting the most attention is the scratch of Jesperi Kotkaniemi. He is second on the team in goals in the playoffs with five and is fifth on the team in points with eight. However, he will be sitting in the press box tonight watching his teammates try to stave off elimination and head back to Tampa Bay for Game 5.

While most Habs fans took to twitter to voice their displeasure about this decision, not everything about the lineup changes for tonight is terrible. Kotkaniemi has played well and deserves to be in the lineup, but so did a few other players that have been sitting recently.

Also, the top three lines have been shuffled around, giving the Canadiens a mostly new look for tonight’s must win contest.

Let’s take a look at the three best things about these lineup changes.