Canadiens Lineup

Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Kirby Dach

Juraj Slafkovsky – Christian Dvorak – Josh Anderson

Evgenii Dadonov – Jake Evans – Joel Armia

Michael Pezzetta – Jonathan Drouin –   Anthony Richard

Joel Edmundson – David Savard

Jordan Harris – Johnathan Kovacevic

Arber Xhekaj – Chris Wideman

Jake Allen – Sam Montembeault

Mike Hoffman, Justin Barron

Carey Price (knee), Paul Byron (hip), Sean Monahan (lower-body), Mike Matheson (lower-body), Kaiden Guhle (lower-body), Brendan Gallagher (lower-body)

Game Report

The Canadiens did not give up a goal in the first two minutes of the game. That’s progress. In fact, the home team didn’t allow a goal in the first period of the hockey game. Baby steps.

But Montreal’s ‘accomplishment’ came at a price. The plan to employ a ‘prevent defence’ meant that the Habs had to abandon their offensive attack in the first period. It took 16:52 to get their first shot on goal in the opening frame.

In the second period, the floodgates opened with the Rangers scoring three times. Their first goal was shorthanded courtesy of Chris Kreider. He’s the player that Habs fans love to hate for taking out Carey Price with a dangerous hit during the 2014 playoffs.

It’s reasonable to imagine that a healthy Price could have carried the Canadiens to a Stanley Cup win. But the anger of the fans should instead be directed at their team’s owner. If not for Geoff Molson’s intervention, Kreider would have been drafted by the Canadiens.

Why are we going back to the 2009 Draft? It’s important to make the point that a bad decision made more than a decade ago is still having negative ramifications for the current Montreal Canadiens. Kreider scored a ‘dagger in the heart’ first goal tonight and was named the game’s first star.

And unfortunately, the philosophy for the franchise has not changed. As long as ownership prioritizes certain immutable characteristics over merit, the Canadiens will remain disadvantaged in pursuit of a 25th Cup.

The Habs have now lost seven games in a row. Montreal is 27th in the standings in the NHL with 33 points.

Up Next

Prior to the game, goaltender Jake Allen was presented with the Molson Cup as winner for the month of December.

On Thursday evening, the NHL announced that Nick Suzuki will represent the Canadiens in the 2023 All-Star Game on February 4th at Sunrise, Florida.

Montreal Canadiens prospects’ Owen Beck and Joshua Roy won gold medals as Canada beat Czechia in overtime at the 2023 World Junior Championship.

The Habs will host the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night at the Bell Centre.

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