Canadiens Lineup

Artturi Lehkonen – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Nick Cousins – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Jordan Weal

Charles Hudon- Nick Suzuki – Jonathan Drouin

Phil Varone – Matthew Peca – Dale Weise

Victor Mete – Shea Weber

Karl Alzner – Mike Reilly

Xavier Ouellet – Christian Folin

Keith Kinkaid – Charlie Lindgren

Game Report

With Saturday’s dress rehearsal fast approaching, it was a night of evaluation for Claude Julien. But given his lineup choices, what was the Canadiens head coach looking for?

The Maple Leafs were icing a lineup close to opening night. And being on the road, Julien did not control matchups.

By this point, it seems clear that the Canadiens coaching staff have learned the value of having Artturi Lehkonen on the top line. He and Brendan Gallagher have looked good together in the pre-season. With Lehkonen creating scoring chances, Gallagher had six shots on goal, by far the most on the Canadiens. 

Jesperi Kotkaniemi, despite feeling the heat of the Montreal media, had a stronger game tonight. Kotkaniemi hasn’t wowed anyone during training camp but neither has he deserved the criticism as sympathetic media use him to distract from the atrocious pre-season performance of Jonathan Drouin.

According to Sportsnet’s Eric Engels, Drouin has failed to create a single scoring chance in the four pre-season games he has played so far. So it’s acknowledged that Drouin chooses not to participate in a defensive game but so far this season he has had nothing to contribute to the Canadiens offence either.

In this game, Drouin was worst of all Montreal forwards at 21.74 Corsi for percentage and -19.57 in relative Corsi for percentage. That’s dreadful. Julien restricted Drouin to just 11:24 in even-strength ice-time.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that Montreal is looking to move the disinterested Drouin. Engels confirmed our reporting that NHL teams are well aware that Drouin is available.

Charles Hudon, was on the opposite wing of Drouin tonight, and did nothing to further his case. Hudon has managed an occasional good play in the pre-season and looks to be working hard. But he not provided a reason for Marc Bergevin to keep him on the roster.

In a curious move, Julien had Nick Suzuki centering Hudon and Drouin. Unlike his linemates, Suzuki looked solid against the Leafs regulars. So far Suzuki has answered every question and passed every test. It would be a crime for him to be excluded from the opening night roster.

The fourth line of Phil Varone, Matthew Peca and Dale Weise should all be heading to Laval. None distinguished themselves in the pre-season.

On night of shaky defence, Karl Alzner turned some heads with strong play for a second straight game. In addition Shea Weber was predictably solid. However for Mike Reilly, Christian Folin and Xavier Ouellet, the performance was a giant train wreck.

Keith Kinkaid had another uneven outing making several good saves but looked scrambly, lost positioning and gave up far too many rebounds. Once the season begins, don’t expect the Leafs (or other strong teams) to be content to firing a barrage of shots from the perimeter as they did tonight.

With his game notes in hand, Julien will now assemble Saturday’s lineup, one he says will resemble opening day. We’ll be curious to see what he has in store for Saturday’s game against Ottawa.

Plus / Minus

▲  Artturi Lehkonen, Nick Suzuki, Shea Weber

▼  Jonathan Drouin, Christian Folin, Mike Reilly, Dale Weise, Matthew Peca, Phil Varone, Xavier Ouellet, Charles Hudon