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Easy Game Tonight For The Habs... Or Is It? Preview + News + Notes |
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Damned if you do win, Damned if you don’t…
No matter what happens tonight there will be shade thrown the Montreal Canadiens way. There’s no way around it. The Canadiens are expected to beat the Arizona Coyotes. The Coyotes have won 2 of 20 games, one in OT and one in a Shoot Out. They have yet to actually beat a NHL squad this season 5 on 5, in 60 minutes.
Should the Habs win people will say “Well, they better win that game. Arizona is a tire fire…”
Should the Habs lose people will say “ Fire the GM, Fire the coach, trade all the good players, the Canadiens can’t beat the worst team in NHL history”.
Le Sigh…..
No winning in the court of public opinion tonight. But those aren’t the wins that matter at this point, only official NHL wins do and the Habs do have a golden opportunity to take a much needed 2 points tonight at the Bell Centre.
The Habs enter the game after losing a tough game in OT, 2-1, to their toughest opponent on their current home stand, the Columbus Blue Jackets. They had a rough first period against the Jackets and surrendered the first goal in the first 3 minutes, but bounced back to make the game very competitive before Paul Byron put home his 4th of the season at the 12:14 mark of the 3rd. The goal would force OT where some bad 3 on 3 coverage allowed Werenski to walk right to the hash marks uncontested and rip home a wrist shot for the win.
Habs deserved the point for sure. They outshot the Jackets 29-25 after a weak 1st period. They killed off both penalties they received, but couldn’t score on their two PP’s. Just one OT mistake to the wrong player ended the game.
At this point, you take that loser point to the bank, focus on the positives, and come into tonight with the Game 7 attitude and desire. This is the worst team in the league they are facing and they need to bury them to remain in the Playoff conversation. In fact, they need to probably put together a string of 2-3 wins in a row right now to ensure they aren’t chasing the playoff race anymore. Tonight is a great opportunity to put 2 more points in the bank.
The Coyotes have a weak roster, there’s no sugar coating it. They brought in a management team with an analytics philosophy a few years ago now and have yet to see any true growth. I don’t know if analytics focused management is to blame, or if being a cash strapped team with a small fanbase is something a group of young players have a hard time getting motivated for. All that said, there are still players to watch out for tonight.
Clayton Keller is the early Calder favorite with 11 G and 6A in 20 games. The undersized forward has been the lone bright spot on a smear of a season so far for the Coyotes. Ekman-Larsson is still a world class defender. Players like Dvorak and Domi help fans of the franchise realize the future isn’t completely bleak as these players will be future 55-60 point players. Beyond that it has been pretty disappointing. Prospect Dylan Strome sure can dominate lesser leagues but his time in the NHL has been ultimately disappointing. The Coyotes will need him to figure out the work ethic it will take to be an NHL player fast if they have any hopes of competing in the near future.
A positive for the Coyotes would be that another year of failure could yield R Dahlen or E Svechnikov this summer and both players look to be immediate impact players. Something any team could use.
Starting in goal tonight for ARI will likely the recently healed A Raanta who has struggled to a 1-5-2 record with a .905 SP% and 3.16 GAA. Raanta was hooked last game in favor of back up S Wedgewood in a 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Nov. 14, 2017. He could come into the game motivated.
The Canadiens shook things up last game with the absence of Lehkonen due to injury. V Mete found himself playing LW and actually played pretty good. A interesting experiment for sure, but if I were moving a D man out of the 6 man unit, I would be moving Morrow. There’s something about his play that just bothers me. I feel like he’s constantly a liability and he loves to get into offensive position, but can never make something happen.
CAPTAIN SHOWING UP, BUT NOT MANY OTHERS
The Canadiens have been offensively led by Captain Max Pacioretty lately, who has 5 G and 5 A in his last 9 games. The team as a whole has struggled scoring again though with only 13 GF in their last 6 games (2.17 per game). The positive from that would be that they have also only allowed 12 goals over the same span (2 per game) so they have had the tinniest, slightest of edges the last 6 games (and the edges name is Charlie).
The Canadiens have gotten away from the over aggressive forecheck lately, or at least they haven’t been as effective in executing it, and for them to have a chance at success they must keep the energy level high. The Canadiens make opportunities happen, they can bring the puck to the net, they simply need to keep the emotions in check and not get too low when there isn’t much reward for the effort. Last game they had some incredible, almost sure goals that were stopped by incredible efforts by S Bobrovsky. There’s no reason to hang the head, they bring that effort and those opportunities to the Coyotes crease tonight and they should score 3-4 times or more.
If the Canadiens can string some wins together I hope Schlemko can come in and provide some better balance to the D group. I know he is going to certainly be better defensively than Morrow, Benn, Davidson, and possibly Petry. The Habs need him to get healthy and get going. This team needs help, we all know it. We all know I do my best to maintain an outlook that’s supportive. That’s because they aren’t out yet and anything can happen. But should they manage to get the wins needed to qualify for playoffs, then Bergevin will need to bring in D help and a PP scorer with speed. Huge needs for the team right now that could increase their chances of winning these tight games they keep finding themselves in.
Special Teams success is a major concern that needs to be addressed as well with the Habs still struggling mightly on the PP and PK. The Canadiens PP is ranked 24th with 15.9% success rate while the PK is even worse, ranked 28th at 75.8%. The Canadiens will likely miss playoffs if these stats don’t improve. They may get by with either the PP or PK performing better than average, but not with both in the late 20’s.
BRIEF TRADE THOUGHTS
I don’t know who could actually be available for a trade, and no I don’t want to see Galchenyuk moved. Galchenyuk is young, improving, and part of the solution. The rumors involving the Canucks could be an exception to this sentiment though, depending on who they would be willing to move. Is Galchenyuk worth a 1st Round pick, Juolevi, Pettersson, and Dahlen? Probably. Are there going to be angry Canuck fans in my comments today? Ohhhh yeah.
Could Juulsen come back and after some AHL time, get a call up and help? Maybe, but I wouldn’t bet on it currently. Not to say Juulsen isn’t a good prospect, in fact I think he’s very good, but he will need time to get back into game shape and speed. I can’t say I believe he will do all of that without a hitch and get back to the level we saw in camp and (briefly) in preseason. If he does, then I know we will see him called up.
LEHKONEN INJURY UPDATE… IT’S NOT GOOD
It would appear that Lehkonen’s lower body injury was more serious than previously thought as he is now listed as Out Indefinitely. I haven’t read anywhere about whether its a groin, knee, ligament issue but whatever it is clearly didn’t respond positively to a couple days off and will now cost Lehkonen some decent time. I will update this space if any new info is released.
NICOLAS DESLAURIERS RECALLED LAST NIGHT FROM LAVAL
In a move that must be to add some grit, the Habs recalled the 6’01”, 215 lb LW from Laval. Deslauriers has 3 G and 2 A in 14 games for the Rocket this season but has consistently contributed to PIM’s categories. Not sure the Habs need someone prone to taking penalties, but maybe they have felt they needed someone to get into some faces if the game needs it.
He is likely destined for the 4th line with 8 mins a game for who knows how long so it will be interesting if he can come in, grind, and provide a positive spark when called upon.
CANADIENS PRACTICE LINES TODAY
With Deslauriers called up it appears he is pencilled in on the 4th line, as expected. Thanks to TSN’s John Lu for the quick update.
Pacioretty - Danault - Shaw
Galchenyuk - Drouin - Byron
Hudon - Plekanec - Gallagher
Deslauriers - De La Rose - Froese
Benn - Weber
Alzner - Petry
Mete - Morrow
Lindgren
Niemi
I would rather see Davidson in than Morrow, but the general consensus seems to be split. Consider me more a fan of Davidson than Morrow at the moment, but hopefully his play tonight proves me wrong.
Big win needed tonight as a loss will not go over well. Puck drop slated for 7:30 pm tonight.
Go Habs Go
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