Canadiens Lineup

Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Artturi Lehkonen – Max Domi – Jordan Weal

Jonathan Drouin – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Joel Armia

Paul Byron  – Nate Thompson –  Nick Suzuki

Victor Mete – Shea Weber

Brett Kulak – Jeff Petry

Ben Chiarot – Christian Folin

Carey Price – Keith Kinkaid

Mike Reilly, Cale Fleury

Nick Cousins

Game Report

The Montreal Canadiens played well for most of the first period. They, too, had the upper hand for portions of the third period.

But for a team with marginal talent, and a roster that has large holes left untouched in the off-season, playing pretty well is not good enough. Giving a full effort for half of the game or even two periods is not good enough for Montreal.

And it’s certainly not good enough against a team that won 62 of 82 games last season.

For almost 10 minutes the Canadiens, stopped skating, stopped working and did a lot of watching. During that time, Montreal did not register a single shot. In that time span, Tampa Bay scored three times.

The Lightning goals all came from prime scoring positions. Two of the goals deflected off the sticks of Canadiens. One of the goals came on Tampa’s only power-play.

The Habs fourth line was dominated. Montreal’s much heralded third line was chewed up and spit out. Claude Julien broke out the line mixmaster for the third period.

Last week, Jeff Petry said that this team picked up a couple of wins without playing a 60-minute game. The head coach said that the Canadiens were digging holes for themselves. Tonight, Julien said that the loss was self inflicted.

Coach Julien went on to explain that his forwards didn’t kill the play when they had possession and did not clear the puck when they had a chance. Bad line changes, getting trapped on the ice were also self-inflicted issues.

The Canadiens will practice at Brossard at 11:30 am. on Wednesday in preparation of their next game on Thursday against the Wild.

Plus / Minus

▲  Brendan Gallagher, Artturi Lehkonen, Tomas Tatar, Phillip Danault, Max Domi

▼  Jonathan Drouin, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Jonathan Drouin, Nate Thompson, Paul Byron, Victor Mete, Shea Weber, penalty kill