Canadiens Lineup

Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Tyler Toffoli – Nick Suzuki – Joel Armia

Paul Byron – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Artturi Lehkonen

Corey Perry – Eric Staal – Josh Anderson

Joel Edmundson – Jeff Petry

Brett Kulak – Ben Chiarot

Jon Merrill – Shea Weber

Carey Price – Jake Allen

Cole Caufield, Erik Gustafsson, Michael Frolik, Alexander Romanov, Charlie Lindgren

Alex Belzile, Laurent Dauphin, Lukas Vejdemo, Jesse Ylonen, Cale Fleury, Otto Leskinen, Xavier Ouellet, Cayden Primeau, Michael McNiven

Jonathan Drouin (undisclosed), Jake Evans (undisclosed)

Game Report

The Canadiens, the lowest seed in the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs, split the first two games on the road which gives Montreal home ice advantage in this series. So mission accomplished?

Well, it sure doesn’t feel that way in large part to the way the Maple Leafs so easily dominated the Habs on this night. 

The game started well. A fierce forecheck by the trio of Joel Armia, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Tyler Toffoli led to the game’s first goal. After scoring his first of the playoffs, Kotkaniemi raised four fingers, his salute to the group of four players left out of game one by the interim head coach: Kotkaniemi, Alexander Romanov, Michael Frolik and Cole Caufield.

But the Leafs countered with heavy pressure of their own. Jason Spezza tied the game as a result of blown coverage and the Canadiens inability to clear their zone.

The ice was tilted in the Maple Leafs favor in the middle frame as Toronto outshot the visitors 20-6. Carey Price did his best to keep his team in the game facing a barrage, 36 shot attempts and 19 scoring chances in the second period alone. 

While the ice in the Toronto end was virtually untouched, the Canadiens blazed a well-worn path to the penalty box in the second and third periods. With all of the offensive firepower, Toronto connected for two power-play goals.

Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe clearly made adjustments to the Leafs game which Dom Ducharme could not match. The interim head coach seems overmatched leaving his charges unprepared.

Given Ducharme’s inexperience, the general manager stepped in to request a coach’s challenge in the second period. While there was contact by Joe Thornton on Carey Price on a power-play goal by Rasmus Sandin, it was obviously a challenge with a very low percent of success.

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