Habs Look to Rebound Against the Canucks Tonight & 5 Questions (Flynn)

Flynn

Habs Look to Rebound Against the Canucks Tonight & 5 Questions

By Jennifer B Cutler

Nov 16, 2015 • 9:57 pm

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The Montreal Canadiens will take on the Vancouver Canucks tonight in rare Monday night home game at the Bell Centre. The last time these teams faced off, the Canadiens played their worst game of the season as they lost 5-1 in Vancouver. This time around the Canadiens are coming off an equally bad loss having been outscored 6-1 by the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night, although it wasn’t necessarily team's worst effort. For its part, Vancouver is coming off a tough loss 4-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs that saw two of their goals waived off. Both Montreal and Vancouver will be looking to rebound tonight and forget about Saturday…

Goalie Mike Condon was due for a bad night. To say that he has played admirably in Carey Price’s absence would be an understatement. Eventually all of the hockey that he has played was bound to catch up to him. Unfortunately on the night that he finally broke, his teammates were unable to provide the goal support he needed, despite for the most part outshooting and outplaying the Avalanche. Reto Barra has been outstanding this season and he was the difference in the game making 39 saves, 18 of which were in the first period alone. The Avalanche were simply able to capitalize on their chances, whereas only Brendan Gallagher was able to put one past Berra to bring the score a little closer to 3-1. 4 minutes later Blake Comeau would score a shorthanded goal, perhaps the weakest one allowed by Condon all season. It came as no surprise that Dustin Tokarski would start the 3rd period in Condon’s place. Tokarski did no better as he allowed two goals. Condon was likely pulled to allow him a little extra rest as he gets the start tonight against the Vancouver Canucks:

Today’s morning skate was optional for the Habs:

However, there will be no lineup changes from Saturday tonight:

Semin's morning skate absence suggests that he will get another opportunity to skate tonight with Alex Galchenyuk and Lars Eller. While the line wasn’t overly impressive against the Avalanche, they also didn’t hurt the Canadiens as they were the only forward unit not be on for a goal against. Semin did not have any shots on net and looks noticeably slower than his linemates. He is there to shoot the puck and he only had one attempt on Saturday. I expect him to have more attempts tonight as he continues to try and re-establish himself in the lineup. Semin could learn a thing or two from Tomas Fleischmann who is also one of the Canadiens slower skaters. Fleischmann usually isn’t the one carrying the puck up the ice. However, he is able to get to the right place at the right time and plays smartly, within his limits. Semin would do well if could emulate this…

Alexei Emelin will miss a second consecutive game with a lower body injury. Greg Pateryn was able to shake off the rust and play a solid game with Tom Gilbert by his side and will play again tonight against the Canucks. The most exciting part of Saturday’s game was probably the play of Nathan Beaulieu as he filled in next to Jeff Petry on the second unit. It did not take them long to feel comfortable playing alongside the other. Both players took chances to jump into the play but their partner was always there to cover and Petry had 6 shots on net. Beaulieu and Pateryn each had 4 hits to contribute as well. Unfortunately, Andrei Markov and P.K. Subban each had their worst game of the year and were on the ice for 4 of the Avalanche’s 6 goals.

As for the Vancouver Canucks, Alex Burrows will not play tonight as he has gone back to Vancouver for the birth of his 3rd child:

Brandon Prust is still recovering from the injury he suffered during the previous game against Montreal. However he joined his teammates to start skating again and will host 3 dozen Montreal youth in a loge tonight. Prust’s character has never been in question and many Habs fans miss him as he endeared himself to the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge and Montreal as a city. The fact that he went ahead with this type of evening for kids makes him a mensch in my book:

Otherwise, the Canucks line combinations will only be known later as they also held an optional skate this morning. Markstrom will get the start in goal in place of Ryan Miller:

5 Questions For Tonight’s Game:

1) The Canadiens powerplay was held off the scoresheet against the Avalanche and they gave up a shorthanded goal. Will they rediscover their ways tonight?

2) Should Paul Byron have gotten the call to play tonight instead of Brian Flynn? Flynn had no shots and just one hit against the Avalanche. Byron seems to be more engaged in the entire game when he plays...

3) How will Condon rebound from his first shaky performance?

4) Will the Eller-Galchenyuk-Semin line find the back of the net tonight?

5) Which Markov will show up tonight? On Saturday night he looked tired, similar to how he played during the playoffs even though he should have been well rested coming off a relatively quiet week...

Puck Drops at 7:30pm.

Cheers & Enjoy the Game!

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