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Game 4: Canadiens vs Red Wings AKA All Good Things Come to an End |
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The table was set for a magical night at the Bell Centre, opening night, a great ceremony, a new video montage, a wonderful choir and the lit up ice thanks to the torch but in the end, the Red Wings were on fire tonight and the Canadiens just couldn't extinguish them. As has become the habit this season, the Habs spent much of the night chasing the game and ended up with their first regulation loss on the year.
There were some positives tonight, first of all, the opening ceremony, I loved the choice of the Leonard Cohen classic Hallelujah and I couldn't help to think that should the 25th come this year, every Hab fan will be singing it in unisson:
The pictures projected on the ice were also quite a sight and a good retrospective of the Habs' history from the old days to the more recent past. Personally, I loved the use of the Patrick Roy wink and that the last picture was from Price's 315th win ceremony. After that, the torch featured in the introduction of the players and each and everyone of them got to raise it before Carey Price lit up the ice:
Unfortunately, those were the best moments on the night on the ice because once the puck dropped, this game belonged to the Red Wings. For the first time in 12 years, Detroit actually won in regulation in Montreal and it wasn't a steal by any means, they deserved that win. In fact, had Carey Price not been solid in net, the Wings might have crushed the Habs by at least a touchdown tonight. Number 31 stopped 30 out of 33 shots but so many of those were dangerous, big stop on shots without warning from the slot time and time again but as good as he is, he cannot do everything himself.
On the bright side of things, the Drouin-Kotkaniemi-Armia line was once again the best line for the Canadiens tonight and Joel Armia scored once more while Drouin put his name on the scoresheet for a 4th time in as many games. It was also great to see the fans welcome Drouin warmly during the pregame ceremony considering how well he has played since the season started. Also, it was deep in the 2nd period that the Canadiens took their first penalty which was a welcome change since the penalty kill has been a worry so far... contrarily to the power play which was once more successful tonight when Domi threaded the needle with the man advantage.
Now for the negatives: the defensive coverage. It is an absolute mess. Most of our defensemen are looking like headless chickens out there and taking some rather poor decisions. That Reilly-Frolin partnership was hard to watch tonight and they need to come out of the line-up as soon as possible. As for Chiarot, he made more than a couple of questionnable decisions tonight committing 3 giveaways just like Jeff Petry but I give him a pass considering that we know what he can do.
Once again, the blender came out and Julien was desperate to find a spark somewhere, anywhere. Even the top line was dismantled when Tatar ended up on a line with Domi and Byron. The KK line remained untouched, which makes sense because it is the most successful out there. 4 games in, it appears that Nick Suzuki might need some time in the AHL to get used to the pace of the regular season. If I'm Max Domi, I've had enough of playing with Lehkonen as well. Try as he might, he is not an offensive player and the team's top point getter from last season should be given scoring wingers.
I believe it's now safe to say that come Saturday night, Julien will not be starting the same lines as he has since the start of the season. If I'm calling the shots, this is what the line-up looks like:
Tatar-Danault-Gallagher
Byron-Domi-Weal
Drouin-Kotkaniemi-Armia
Lehkonen-Thompson-Cousins (if he's ready)
Yes, in this scenario I'm either making Suzuki skip a game or go get some prime minutes in Laval. I know that Weal is not necessarily a scoring winger but I don't think we can afford to split up the other two lines. At the blue line, I'm putting Kulak and Fleury back in and Reilly and Folin back on the press gallery where they belong.
The Canadiens might have played 2 games in as many nights, I really do hope that they do get a training session tomorrow. It's high time that they work on the penalty kill and that they create some chemistry on their lines. Do not tell me that they'll be knackered, this is the start of the season and they can handle the workload. Something also has to be done with the defence, you cannot expect to win by giving so many quality shots and failing to clear the front of the net.
The Habs will be back on the Bell Centre ice on Saturday when they'll welcome the Stanley Cup winning Blues who have 3 wins and 1 OT loss so far this season. Tonight, they beat Ottawa 6-4 and the Canadiens will need to put in heck of an effort if they want to compete with St-Louis.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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