Montreal Canadiens fans knew what they got when the team acquired Patrik Laine. At his best, he is one of the top shooters in the NHL and can score goals seemingly at will. He can set up at the top of the left circle and hammer home goals all night if you let him, but he doesn't always bring the same competitive level night in and night out. At his worst, Laine is one of the most inconsistent players in the league, and when things get bad, they get terrible quickly.
Things got bad in Game 1, but they reached that "terrible" level in Game 2. Laine was invisible for large portions of the first two games of Round 1, leading to Martin St. Louis benching him for the entire third period.
It's good to see St. Louis being hard on his players and making them show some accountability. However, it shows how bad Laine was playing if St. Louis felt he was better off on the bench in a game where they needed a goal to tie. Laine's strength is his ability to put the puck in the net at an elite level, but the head coach didn't have enough trust in him to do that.
If Laine isn't trusted to score, then what is his real use in the lineup. It leads us to ask the question of whether he could be a healthy scratch in Game 3. It'd be a disappointing story for Laine, as he looked to Montreal for a fresh start but is now about to suffer the same fate as he did in Winnipeg and Columbus. Coming back from a playoff healthy scratch would be a steep mountain to climb for Laine, especially in Montreal.
Would you like to see Patrik Laine out of the lineup for Game 3?
— A Winning Habit (@FSAWinningHabit) April 24, 2025
The fanbase seems divided on Laine's place in the lineup, according to our poll on social media. Over half of the voters want to see the Canadiens go to Oliver Kapanen, while nearly 35% want Laine to stay in the lineup. Only 11.5% want to see Joshua Roy enter the lineup from Laval. A small sector of the fanbase would like to see Michael Pezzetta inserted into the lineup, which makes sense if you buy into the narrative that the Capitals are bullying the Canadiens.
In favour of pezz
— Pad (@paqdaddy) April 24, 2025
“The guys that I leaned on in the third, I thought they did a great job,” St. Louis said postgame. “As a coach, you make those decisions. You have this gut feeling, and I felt like the group responded when we shortened the bench, and I felt like it gave us a chance. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the next goal, but I felt like it was there, just didn’t quite capitalize.”
It wasn't just Laine who didn't see much ice time in the third period. Joel Armia and Emil Heineman also played limited shifts, and it wouldn't be surprising to see St. Louis make some kind of change to the Game 3 lineup. He could opt to replace Heineman with Kapanen, and keep Laine in the lineup for the powerplay. However, no one would be overly shocked if it is Laine who watches the game from the press box. The question is whether the young team could overcome the media frenzy that move would cause.