Lineup
Forward lines and defense pairings
[one_half]Tatar – Danault – Gallagher
Drouin – Kotkaniemi – Armia
Byron – Domi – Lehkonen
Hudon – Peca – Shaw
[/one_half]
[one_half_last]Mete – Petry
Reilly – Juulsen
Benn – Ouellet
[/one_half_last]
Goaltenders
Price
Niemi
Scratches
Alzner, Scherbak, Plekanec
Injuries
Weber, Schlemko, De la Rose, Deslauriers
Game Report
Tonight the new system looked a whole lot like the old system. Last season we got used to seeing the Canadiens outshoot their opponents but experience a great deal of difficulty scoring. Fire everything from the perimeter and be porous defensively.
That is exactly what Bell Centre fans were ‘treated’ to for the Canadiens home opener.
Kings goaltender Jack Campbell had a rather routine outing for his first NHL shutout. The Canadiens were not going to the dirty areas of the ice and got very little traffic in front of Campbell. Jonathan Drouin once again tried to put on a solo performance.
On the back end, Noah Juulsen was the only defender to have a solid game. Xavier Ouellet, Jordie Benn, Mike Reilly and Jeff Petry all struggled with the Kings bigger forwards. Carey Price was forced to bail out his crew throughout the game.
The Canadiens power-play failures proved to be the difference in the game with just two shots on goal to show for three consecutive opportunities towards the end of the second period.
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▲ Carey Price, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Noah Juulsen
▼ Jonathan Drouin, Matthew Peca, Xavier Ouellet, Jordie Benn, Mike Reilly, Jeff Petry, Phillip Danault |