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Pregame: Canadiens vs Hurricanes |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
Yesterday, the Canadiens sent Frederic Allard back to Laval and the hope was that perhaps one of Barron or Harris was ready to return, but it turned out that it was Chris Wideman who was on the ice at the morning skate. The veteran will be back in the line-up for the first time since February 16th when he played against tonight’s opponent the Carolina Hurricanes and ended his night with a -4 rating in a 6-2 loss. There’s definitely room for improvement there.
Up front, Martin St-Louis has decided to stick with the experiment that paid off in the final frame of the game against Vegas, captain Nick Suzuki will therefore be flanked with Rafael Harvey-Pinard on the left and Jesse Ylonen on the right. After practice, Harvey-Pinard spoke about how rare it is to get that kind of opportunity for AHL players to just step up on the top line. As for the coach, he explained that Ylonen was promoted to the top line last game because the Habs were down 0-3 and nothing was working so it was time to do an experiment.
Since it worked, he’s decided to stick with it and he adds that Ylonen has earned this opportunity. Now that he’s been with the team for a while, Ylonen has had plenty of reps and a chance to get more comfortable. He feels like the 23-year-old has taken a big step forward and feels more confident, he’s not deferring to other players as much, he has the ability to carry the puck and he does it when appropriate. All too often, youngsters are eager to be liked by the vets on a team and they tend to let them take charge, but Ylonen now has the belief in himself necessary to get past that trap.
With Ylonen on the top line, Denis Gurianov drops to the 3rd line alongside Rem Pitlick and Christian Dvorak, but St-Louis was clear that the demotion is not because he is displeased with the new acquisition. At this stage of the season and with so many injuries, the Habs might as well use their 19 remaining games to take stock and evaluate what they have on their ends. Next season, there should be room in this line-up for new blood and auditions are taking place right here, right now. Drouin will more than likely be gone, Dadonov’s departure for Dallas opened up another spot that Gurianov may get, if he's convincing enough, time will tell.
As for tonight’s visitors, Carolina has won its last 2 games and has a 7-3 record in its last 10. On Sunday, the Canes absolutely destroyed the Lightning 6-0. Granted, the Bolts are going through a tough time, they are 2-5-3 in their last 10, but it’s still quite a feat to dominate John Cooper’s squad like that. The first star of the game was actually former Hab Jesperi Kotkaniemi who got a goal and four assists in the rout. So far, he’s got 30 points and he’s on pace to set a new personal best which currently is 34 points in 79 games in his rookie season. He’s still some ways away from being worth the $4.280M cap hit the Canes allocated to him, but at least there’s evidence of progression and with 7 years left on his deal, Carolina is probably hoping it’s only the early stages of a long process of improvement.
Tonight’s game is at 7:00 PM and Jake Allen will be in net just like he was against the Golden Knights on Sunday. Understandable since Montembeault was in net the last time the two teams played and he allowed 6 goals.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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