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Canadiens Lineup

Jonathan Drouin – Max Domi – Andrew Shaw

Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Paul Byron – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Artturi Lehkonen

Kenny Agostino – Michael Chaput – Charles Hudon

Jordie Benn – Shea Weber

Mike Reilly – Jeff Petry

David Schlemko – Victor Mete

Carey Price – Antti Niemi 

Matthew Peca, Nicolas Deslauriers, Brett Kulak

Joel Armia

Game Report

It was the opening game of the six-game road trip that is a crucial test for the Canadiens. The silver lining is that the schedule is broken by a return to Montreal for a Christmas break.

Also on the calendar is the traditional holiday roster freeze that spans from midnight tonight until December 28th at 12:01 am. So if you were hoping for a top-pairing left-handed defenceman for Christmas, prepare to be disappointed.

Against the Avalanche, Jordie Benn was next up in the defence-partner-for-Shea-Weber carousel. Weber casts a wide shadow and has the ability to make players around him look good. But every superhero has a limit to their powers.

And in the case of Jordie Benn, it is a bridge too far.

That’s not to say Benn is a bad defenceman. He knows his limitations. But it is simply unrealistic for Claude Julien to put him in that situation.

Needless to say, that Benn was unable to adequately cope against one of the most offensively potent lines in hockey tonight. He wasn’t able to handle the speed and skill of the likes of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog.

Good coaches put their players in a position to succeed. And good coaches demand accountability from every player on their roster.

Jonathan Drouin is one of those players who, through the eyes of Julien, has a permanent ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card stuffed in his sock. Drouin was nothing more than a spectator passing up two opportunities to intervene on the Landeskog goal.

It’s important to note that Drouin, one of the players who is counted on for offence, has not scored a goal in December against a team not named the Senators. In fact, Drouin is without a high-danger scoring chance for this week’s games against the Bruins and Avalanche.

While the Canadiens ran up an enormous advantage in 5-on-5 shot attempts, 65-38, the statistic is a little misleading. Colorado had three times the number of high-danger scoring chances. In fact, the Habs had just four high-danger scoring chances all game and none in the third period.

Obviously, that made it a much more difficult night for Carey Price than Philipp Grubauer.

But more importantly, Canadiens top-6 forwards aren’t creating enough grade A scoring chances nor finishing the rare ones they do get. Montreal has not scored an even strength goal in six periods.. and counting.

The Canadiens caught the Avalanche reeling, having lost four of their five past games. Unfortunately, without an effective offence and some inept work on defence, the Habs  allowed Colorado to out work them on their way to turning their fortunes around.

Plus / Minus

▲  Carey Price, Shea Weber, Victor Mete, Jesperi Kotkaniemi

▼  Jonathan Drouin, Max Domi, Phillip Danault, Michael Chaput, Jordie Benn, Mike Reilly, Charles Hudon, David Schlemko