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Mission Impossible?

March 17, 2019, 4:01 PM ET [188 Comments]
Karine Hains
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Saturday night hockey in Montreal has always been a joyous occasion...well maybe not always, it sure isn't when the Habs find a Quebec native netminder on their path. Last night, Claude Julien's men shot 48 times on Corey Crawford but he was flawless. Yes, as per usual, not all shots were very demanding, I mean this team isn't make up of the greatest sharpshooters but there were definitely some challenging ones on which he stood tall. His best save probably came against goal deprived Artturi Lehkonen:



That's not how the game was meant to go. Prior to puck drop, the Canadiens honoured Carey Price for overtaking Jacques Plante in the win category becoming the new record holder in the process. Everything was near perfect; Price's family was in attendance as were his mother, father and sister, the tribute video was pretty good even though a bit on the short side, he received a few gifts to mark the occasion one being a number 315 team-signed jersey delivered by Brendan Gallagher and Shea Weber and the other being a gold hockey stick given to him by Geoff Molson. As per usual, Canadiens showed they know how to do ceremonies. On a night like this though, surely the players should have been hyped up to give their star goalie a win.

Specialnight for @CP0031, joinedby family, teammates& Jacques Plante's son, Michel, and hisfamilyto celebratePrice's franchise record for gameswon. I visitedw/ Carey & Michel post-game; a story on the night and Plante's iconicstatusiscomingto https://t.co/i8v4PTkOrr pic.twitter.com/f6RB7UYtPL

— Dave Stubbs (@Dave_Stubbs) March 17, 2019

To be fair, it didn't start too badly, the Canadiens looked ready to play which might seem normal but from what we've seen lately it's far from guaranteed every game. I believe it's also possible to say that the power play looked better...Of course it didn't score but there were some good passing plays in there and a few scoring chances. Sadly, what stood oud most for me in the first period was how hard things appeared to be for Shea Weber. There was one particular sequence in the defensive zone where he just couldn't get or clear the puck and it did make him look a bit like a headless chicken out there.

This game was also the first one in which Julien was trying out some new lines and as I said in my blog on Friday, I just didn't get it. These new lines were as follows:

Tatar - Danault - Gallagher
Lehkonen - Domi - Shaw
Drouin - Kotkaniemi - Armia
Byron - Thompson - Weal

I have no issue with the first line staying intact but it's all downhill from there. You want Domi and Shaw to produce and yet you give them Artturi Lehkonen who cannot score to save his life this year. Sure, you want to punish Drouin and not let him play with the best offensive players but you're hurting yourself more than the player. Speaking of number 92, he was meant to spend the evening with KK and Armia but the Canadiens' rookie only saw 7 minutes and 56 seconds of action while the likes of Jordan Weal (19:04) and Nate Thompson (13:10) featured heavily. I think Eric Engels said it best when he mentioned perplexing decisions:

The #Canadiens have 10 gamesleftto figure thingsout afteranotherfrustratinglossto the #Blackhawks (@EricEngels)https://t.co/NY5PwuPJ5J

— Sportsnet(@Sportsnet) March 17, 2019

That 2-0 loss to the Blackhawks hurt a lot...especially since Columbus did manage to get a point out of Boston since they lost in OT. With 10 games to play for both teams, the Jackets now hold a 3 point lead over the Habs and while qualifying for the playoffs is not yet impossible, it's getting there. According to sportsclubstats.com, they now have an 18.8% chance of making it while Columbus is at 84.3%. The Tricolore has got 4 games this week and winning everyone of them is the only way to hang on to what little hope they have left. They'll be taking on the Flyers Tuesday, the Islanders Thursday, the Sabres Saturday and the Hurricanes on Sunday. Desperate times call for desperate measures, Carey Price better be in net for all of them.

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