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Pregame: Canadiens vs Flyers |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
After 2 losses in a row, the Canadiens will hope to find a way to win tonight. They were outplayed against the Devils and came out flat against the Blue Jackets, but hopefully, they’ll have some jump tonight and Martin St-Louis will have put some money on the board as he takes on his former coach John Tortorella. Both teams have similar record with 17 points, the Canadiens are 8-8-1 and the Flyers are 7-7-3.
Jake Allen will man the Canadiens’ net and we can expect Carter Hart to step in for Philadelphia. At the Habs’ morning skate, the forward lines were unchanged, but Matheson’s return means some new pairings at the back.
Matheson-Edmundson
Guhle-Savard
Xhekaj-Kovacevic
Harris-Wideman
The Harris-Wideman pairing stayed on the ice with the defense coaches after practice putting in some extra work and will in all likelihood but surplus to requirements tonight. I’ll admit that I’m somewhat surprised to see Harris skip a turn, but it means that St-Louis does intend to put a rotation in place which he confirmed in his post practice media availability. Harris, Xhekaj and Kovacevic will be alternating in and out of the line-up while the Guhle-Savard pairing will be used as the second unit, making their workload more manageable.
The head coach doesn't expect the rotation system to mess with his rookie defensemen's confidence, each of them is responsible for their own confidence and if they feel it go down, they can speak to him, and he will remind them of how good they are. As for who will skip their turn when, St-Louis says they will decide depending on the opponent and other factors. He wasn't tempted to opt for 7 defensemen, mentioning that dressing 7 defensemen also has a ripple effect on the ice-time for forwards.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 pm and you can catch the game on TVA Sports, City TV and Sportsnet.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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