Canadiens Lineup

Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Tyler Toffoli

Rem Pitlick – Jake Evans – Josh Anderson

Mike Hoffman – Paul Byron – Brendan Gallagher

Artturi Lehkonen – Ryan Poehling – Joel Armia

Brett Kulak – Jeff Petry

Alexander Romanov – Corey Schueneman

Kale Clague – Chris Wideman

Sam Montembeault – Andrew Hammond

Cedric Paquette, Michael Pezzetta, Laurent Dauphin

Ben Chiarot (lower-body), Christian Dvorak (upper-body), David Savard (ankle), Jonathan Drouin (wrist), Jake Allen (lower-body), Mathieu Perreault (lower-body), Joel Edmundson (back), Carey Price (knee), Shea Weber (multiple injuries)

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Game Report

By his own account, Marty St. Louis is a fan of the game, watching ‘a ton’ of hockey since his playing days ended seven years ago. When he arrived in Montreal, it didn’t take long for St. Louis to identify his favourites: players who resemble him, size-wise, and play like he did.

St. Louis hasn’t been shy about hiding his giddiness for Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki.  Consequently it may take the rookie coach more time to warm up to the talents of players like Artturi Lehkonen and Ryan Poehling. Experienced coaches know that assembling a winning team requires the perfect combination of puzzle pieces.

Lehkonen has been one of the most underappreciated players in Montreal by fans throughout his career. Lehkonen has been having a terrific year and is one of the Habs players in highest demand by NHL GMs as the trade deadline approaches. Lehkonen has been key in triggering the resurgence of Nick Suzuki and Tyler Toffoli.

But on Sunday, St. Louis gave in to his fan instincts, making a lineup change that was enthusiastically endorsed by throngs of Canadiens fans: moving Caufield to the Habs first line and Lehkonen to the fourth line.

The result: Caufield was on the ice for three goals against and the Canadiens top line was buried by the Sabres. This week Caufield has shown signs of the one-dimensional player he was in Wisconsin: thrilling the fans of offensive hockey, but giving his coach ulcers with his disinterest in the defensive zone. And on Sunday there was no offence to go along with the defensive miscues.

The interim head coach is learning. The future offensive star should be learning. And maybe in the interest of playing a more complete game, that learning for Caufield should be taking place in Laval.

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▼  Cole Caufield, Josh Anderson, Alexander Romanov, Brendan Gallagher, Kale Clague, Tyler Toffoli, Nick Suzuki

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