It's clearly Ducks hunting season in Canada, the Anaheim outfit was slayed 9-3 by the Jets on Saturday before getting put down again by the Maple Leas last night in a 6-1. They've got a 2-6-2 record in their last 10 games and they do look like they're heading for elimination fast. That doesn't mean it will be an easy night at the hunting club however, the Habs have a way to complicate stuff for themselves against struggling teams.
The Canadiens did receive some good news today, Paul Byron's arm is not broken. That is not to say that he will be straight back in the line-up though, he'll be re evaluated on a daily basis. He won't be the only one not suiting up tonight as Andrew Shaw is still awaiting the green light to come back and Tomas Tatar missed this morning's practice with the flu. Tatar may be in the line up but it's not confirmed yet. Should he be unable to play, the lines should be the ones on display at practice today:
Drouin - Danault - Gallagher Hudon - Domi - Peca Lehkonen - Kotkaniemi - Armia Agostino - Chaput - Deslauriers Shaw
Mete - Weber Reilly - Petry Kulak - Benn Alzner
Price Niemi
Kind of amazing to see that Hudon and Peca go up from the 4th line to the 2nd one while both Agostino and Chaput get to come down from the press gallery and complete a line with Deslauriers. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Charles Hudon MUST make the most of this opportunity. That being said, the TSN 690 crew (hey, don't blame me for listening, my friends are not in today and I need something to listen to during lunch) points out that perhaps Agostino and Chaput are the ones who might be out of favor right now since they were the healthy scratches last two games. I guess we'll only find out when Tatar, Byron and Shaw are all healthy, this is when the hard décisions will have to be made.
The fact that Byron and Tatar aren't there also means that the power play units have been modified for now and here they are:
Weber-Drouin-Lehkonen-Kotkaniemi-Armia Reilly-Petry-Hudon-Domi-Gallagher
I'm still shocked that Armia is on the power play, I just don't see it... As for Lehkonen joining him and Kotkaniemi, I guess it makes sense since they are linemates but even if Kotkaniemi finds Lehkonen in good spots with the puck all the time, he almost never converts. The way I see it, the power play is where you should put your finishers. Last game, KK, Drouin and Weber were linking up quite nicely, why not add the team's top scorer on that first wave then? Now that I've said that, Lehkonen will probably score tonight but hey, I sure won't complain if he does. As for the second wave, it's been struggling mightily and I don't see an end to that just yet...let's cross everything and hope for the best I guess.
The puck drops at 7:30 PM tonight and the Habs better hope they win this one since the way ahead is somewhat scary... Winnipeg, Toronto, Nashvill and Tampa will be their next four rivals...needless to say those contests will be tough.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi dirige les étirements pour conclure l’entraînement matinal.@taikinajalka leads the stretch to close out morning skate today.#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/cMYhWP8nER
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) 5 février 2019