Canadiens Lineup

Jonathan Drouin – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Paul Byron – Max Domi – Andrew Shaw

Artturi Lehkonen – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Jordan Weal  

Dale Weise – Nate Thompson – Joel Armia

Victor Mete – Shea Weber

Mike Reilly – Jeff Petry

Jordie Benn – Christian Folin

Carey Price – Antti Niemi

Charles Hudon, Nicolas Deslauriers, Matthew Peca, Brett Kulak, Tomas Tatar (flu)

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Game Report

With the Canadiens exceeding expectations, Claude Julien has mostly escaped serious scrutiny this season. That came to an abrupt end on this week’s California road trip by the Canadiens.

Julien made several tweaks to his lineup over the three games and none seem to have had the desired effect. 

Did Mike Reilly have a positive impact in his return? What about Jesperi Kotkaniemi
? Did he show much more energy and confidence after watching from the press box for two games?

Was the Canadiens power-play able to bail out the team when it dug a hole for itself?

How’s that fourth line looking after the ‘upgrade?’ Did Jonathan Drouin reward the head coach with an outstanding effort after being promoted to the first line? And how did his goalie deployment plan work out?

The answer to these questions should be obvious. 

It hasn’t been a good week for the coaching staff. And it goes without saying that the players didn’t react well to their general manager taking a pass on the trade deadline.

Now, a spot in the playoffs could be in jeopardy. It wasn’t that long ago when some were anticipating the Habs leapfrogging Toronto and Boston.

At this point, expectations from September can be tossed out the window. For the past five months, the Montreal Canadiens made their fans believe that they are a playoff team. Anything less would have to be considered a failure.

And then the serious questioning would begin.

Plus / Minus

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▼  Jonathan Drouin, Jordie Benn, Christian Folin, Mike Reilly, Phillip Danault, Dale Weise, Nate Thompson