Canadiens Lineup

Mike Hoffman – Nick Suzuki – Jake Evans

 Tyler Toffoli – Christian Dvorak – Cole Caufield

Jonathan Drouin – Ryan Poehling – Joel Armia

Michael Pezzetta – Mathieu Perreault – Artturi Lehkonen

Ben Chiarot – David Savard

Alexander Romanov – Brett Kulak

Mattias Norlinder – Chris Wideman

Jake Allen – Sam Montembeault

Cedric Paquette, Kale Clague

Jeff Petry (upper-body), Josh Anderson (upper-body), Joel Edmundson (back),  Carey Price (knee), Paul Byron (hip), Shea Weber (multiple injuries)

Brendan Gallagher, Sami Niku

Game Report

Jeff Gorton made the first move of his tenure with the Canadiens claiming defenceman Kale Clague off waivers from the Los Angeles Kings. Clague is a speedy, puck-moving defenceman who has split his season between the Kings and the Ontario Reign of the AHL. While not the type of player who will make an impact for the Canadiens, his arrival should signal a change in the type of defenceman that the Habs now value.

And those type of rearguards were in short supply in the Montreal lineup in Nashville. The best puck-moving defenceman for the visitors played just 8:58 as the Canadiens head coach does his best to limit the losses for his next gig.

The Canadiens have been capable this season of playing well for just one period per game. In this game it was the middle frame where they scored twice including a rare road power-play goal for only the third time this season.

But for the first 15 minutes of the game and the last 20 minutes of regulation, the Canadiens were thoroughly dominated. Shots on goal during that time period were an astonishing 26-3 for Nashville.

Overall, high-danger scoring chances (5 vs 5) were 16-2 for the Predators.

Change of direction

The Executive VP of Hockey Ops has just arrived but he has a lot of work to do. First and foremost is ensuring he gets full trade value for assets who don’t have the skills that he prioritizes.

While it’s likely that Gorton will wait closer to the deadline, it won’t be helpful if Ben Chiarot or David Savard get injured, especially given that Dom Ducharme played them 29:13 and 25:32 respectively tonight. And if there’s a reluctance to play Mattias Norlinder, send him back to Sweden.

Upfront, let’s see more ice time for Ryan Poehling (11:29) and Cole Caufield (13:00). Caufield is starting to heat up and Poehling has been very good since his recall from Laval.

If the losses are going to continue to pile up, then the Canadiens must extract value from the season by providing valuable experience in all situations to their younger players who will be part of the next core.

And start making a list of head coaching targets. While Geoff Molson declared the coaches are safe for this season, it is painfully obvious that a new bench boss should be hired during the off-season.

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