The Montreal Canadiens play their first playoff game tonight and Martin St-Louis has made some bold lineup changes for game 1. The following below are what the Habs are going to to ice again the bolts.
Cole Caufield-Nick Suzuki-Juraj-Slafkovsky
Alexandre Texier-Alex Newhook-Ivan Demidov
Zachary Bolduc- Oliver Kapanen – Kirby Dach
Jake Evans – Phillip Danault – Josh Anderson
Mike Matheson – Alexander Carrier
Kaiden Guhle – Lane Hutson
Jayden Struble – Arber Xhekaj
Jakub Dobes
With Noah Dobson injured, Carrier moves up with Matheson with is a good move. Hopefully, he can come back sometime during the first round, but its looking like the Habs would need to make the second round in order for him to hit the ice again.
A glaring omission from the lineup is Brendan Gallagher. This guy is a warrior and there is no way I would take him out of the lineup. If it were me, I would take out Dach and have Gallagher slot in at his spot.
Also, I'm not a big fan of Hutson playing his offside but St Louis is limited unless he puts in Reinbacher. I would have Engstrom in the lineup personally and see how that goes with Xhekaj sitting out. Playoffs are the best type of hockey, and hopefully the Habs can get a win tonight!
What do you all think of the lineup?