It was almost funny to see all the beat writers’ tweets this morning reporting that Claude Julien had made some changes to his lines for tonight’s match-up... All of them were floored by the one swap. Yes ladies and gents, tonight, Jesperi Kotkaniemi will be a healthy scratch and make way for....Jordan Weal?!? That’s correct, Jonathan Drouin will be playing on the left side of Weal tonight....That doesn't sound Wealy good now does it (wow I feel like Will Wheaton right now)? Drouin being on the third line also means that Paul Byron will take his speedy self up to the second line alongside Domi and Shaw.
Why did Julien decide to pull his rookie centre? Well, he said Kotkaniemi looked like he was tired and could use some rest...I’m sorry but there are some players out there who work a lot less than KK...to me, this is Julien demoting Drouin to the third line and sticking him with a grinder at centre. Perhaps Julien wants to wake up his star player and knows that his ego wouldn’t have handled being scratched so this was the next best thing.
To be fair, I think this is really bad timing to make such a gamble. The Canadiens are in desperate need to get the two points, especially since the Penguins and the Blue Jackets got 2 points tonight and the Hurricanes got 1 in an OT loss to Boston. Thanfully, after missing yesterday’s practice because of a virus, Price will be in net tonight and hopefully, he’ll tie Jacques Plante’s 314 wins...
The Kings are currently 29th in the league and a win is highly possible, in theory... In practice, anything can happen when the puck drops. Habs fans will hope that the Gallagher, Domi and Tatar will be quick out of the gates tonight and allow the Canadiens to get an early lead.
Buckle up people, this is going to be a late one, the puck drops at 22:30 so grab that coffee, that Red Bull or that Pepsi and put on your favorite Habs jersey to enjoy yet another chapter of an already really entertaining 2018-2019 season!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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