Canadiens Lineup

Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Artturi Lehkonen – Max Domi – Paul Byron

Jonathan Drouin – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Jordan Weal

Nick Cousins – Nate Thompson – Nick Suzuki

Victor Mete – Shea Weber

Brett Kulak – Jeff Petry

Ben Chiarot – Cale Fleury

Carey Price – Keith Kinkaid

Mike Reilly, Christian Folin 

Joel Armia

Game Report

The Canadiens went into St. Louis against the defending Stanley Cup champion and left with a season sweep in their two-game series with the Blues. The two wins could have been a source of inspiration later in the season.

But losing the next afternoon to the league’s worst team zaps all of the good feelings of the two points earned on Saturday.

So maybe the loss in Minnesota can be blamed on fatigue? No says Jeff Petry, the poor performance wasn’t because a lack of energy. Petry felt that the Habs were trying to force plays throughout the game and were not making smart decisions.

Perhaps it is was the weak Canadiens penalty-kill. The Wild went 2-for-5 on the power-play. Claude Julien disagrees.

The head coach was much more exercised about the needless offensive zone penalty taken by Paul Byron that led to the tying goal. Byron has not had a strong start to the season.

With the teams tied after 40 minutes, Brendan Gallagher said that the message inside the dressing room was that the team simply had to win one period to claim the victory. And against the worst team in the league, the Canadiens failed.

Goaltending in the final frame was an issue with Keith Kinkaid allowing two goals on five shots. Give him props for the entertainment value of his circus save earlier in the game, if you wish, but when he needed to make a stop when the game was on the line, he wasn’t there.

The Canadiens are one game shy of the 10-game mark by which general managers typically have a good sense of what kind of team that they have assembled. It’s fair to saw that with the current complement of players, Marc Bergevin has put together a club that will likely frustrate fans with their inconsistency this season.

The Habs head back to Montreal where they will host San Jose on Thursday night at the Bell Centre.

Plus / Minus

▲  Phillip Danault

▼  Ben Chiarot, Cale Fleury, Jordan Weal, Nate Thompson, Nick Cousins, Jonathan Drouin, Jesperi Kotkaniemi