Canadiens Notebook: Dominique Ducharme won’t reveal lineup for Game 2
Ducharme #Ducharme
Head coach Dominique Ducharme won’t reveal his lineup yet for Game 2 of the Canadiens’ first-round playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, but there’s a good chance Jake Evans won’t play.
Evans left early in the Canadiens’ 2-1 win over the Leafs in Game 1 Thursday night in Toronto and Ducharme said the centre is listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.
Ducharme said “all options are open” when it comes to his lineup for Game 2, but there’s a good chance it will be Jesperi Kotkaniemi taking Evans’s spot. Evans was limited to 7:52 of ice time in Game 1, while Kotkaniemi was a healthy scratch, along with Cole Caufield and defenceman Alexander Romanov.
Game 2 is Saturday night in Toronto (7 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).
“We know them,” Ducharme said about the Leafs. “We faced them 10 times during the regular season (posting a 3-6-1 record). I don’t think they’ll completely change their playing style. They’ll try to be better, but that’s our goal, too. They’ll want to create even more things offensively in order to generate more scoring chances. We’ll be ready for that.
The Canadiens went 0-for-5 on the power play in Game 1, while the Leafs went 0-for-4. Paul Byron scored the game-winning goal while the Canadiens were short-handed at 12:44 of the third period.
The Canadiens only practised the power play on the ice Friday in Toronto with the other players taking part in off-ice workouts. Kotkaniemi took Joel Armia’s spot on the second power-play unit.
“It’s a question of execution,” Ducharme said about the power play. “We had a few chances, but we want to create more. We want to give ourselves options more quickly and execute better. We have to be aggressive and attack the net. We’ll work on details with our players. We definitely want to do a better job in Game 2.”
Defenceman Jeff Petry said the Canadiens need to work on cleaning up their zone entries on the power play and also make sure that they’re not “one and done.”
“Getting shots, recovering rebounds, getting set up again,” Petry said. “Limit the time bringing up the puck and having more O-zone time. The unit changes, I think it’s good that we get some lefties and righties mixed into the groups to have different options throughout.
“I think everybody after Game 1 of a series is going to go back and look at film and make adjustments,” Petry added. “I think we know what to expect from them. I think it might be a little bit more physical and you got to be ready to match that and I thought we got a good start to yesterday’s game, which is what we needed to do and find a way to carry that all the way through.”
The Canadiens had 28 hits in the first period of Game 1 and outhit the Leafs 55-27 in the game.
“I thought we had good gaps and made it difficult for them to come in the zone with possession,” Petry said. “When they did have to dump the puck in I thought we worked as a unit of five to break the puck out. We got to expect that they’re going to come hard on the forecheck and got to be ready to do that again tomorrow night.”
The Big Boys
The Canadiens’ third line of centre Eric Staal between Corey Perry and Josh Anderson, had a strong performance in Game 1.
Staal is 6-foot-4 and 195 pounds, Perry is 6-foot-3 and 206 pounds, and Anderson is 6-foot-3 and 226 pounds.
Anderson opened the scoring at 12:08 of the first period, taking a nice pass from Staal at centre ice before splitting the defence and beating Maple Leafs goalie Jack Campbell with a quick shot to the glove side.
The Big Boys line combined for seven shots and 13 hits in the game.
Staal said that Anderson reminds him of former Canadien Erik Cole, who was his teammate in Carolina when the Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup in 2006.
“I think from a sheer speed and power standpoint, Colesy comes to mind,” Staal said. “When he was at his prime and he was busting down the wing, guys didn’t want to get in the way of him because he was so strong and powerful. I think Andy has a lot of that as well. He’s just so big and so strong and fast that anyone that steps in front of him he’ll just run right over him.
“I think Andy may be a little more physical on the forecheck, but playoff time is always amped up,” Staal added. “His power and his speed is an asset of his. It’s important for him to use that asset and it’s important for me if I’m playing with him to use it to our advantage and to my advantage and to our team’s advantage. We’ll continue to try and be back at it tomorrow.”
Slow start for Gallagher’s line
Brendan Gallagher returned to the Canadiens lineup for Game 1 after missing the last 21 game of the regular season with a fractured thumb.
Gallagher had two shots on goal, which were two more than his linemates Phillip Danault and Tomas Tatar combined for.
“As a line, those guys can generate a little bit more,” Ducharme said. “But it was their first game back together and those guys are competitors. They didn’t have a bad game last night at all. But I know they’re going to push themselves to be even better tomorrow.”
The line of Nick Suzuki between Tyler Toffoli and Armia combined for four shots. Toffoli had two and Suzuki and Armia had one each.
‘It’s not easy at that time of the year to create scoring chances in those type of games,” Ducharme said when asked about that line. “It’s always nice to have a big quantity, but it’s also about quality and making sure that being dynamic, puck support, striking quick on plays that you kill. I think those guys are good when they do that. I think they had a pretty solid game defensively without the puck and so on, managing the game pretty well. But, yeah, on the offensive side we know that they got to be generating more chances.”
The return of KK?
If Kotkaniemi does indeed take Evans’s spot in the lineup he will likely be at centre on the fourth line between Artturi Lehkonen and Byron. Those three played together as a line late in the regular season.
“He brings skill, great vision, great with the puck,” Byron said about Kotkaniemi. “I think me and Lehky play up and down the ice, we forecheck hard and I think it complements his game. He’s more of finding spots, feeding guys, reading the play. So I think he can read off of us and play his game. Play simple.
“As linemates, we just try and do what we can to make the game easy on him and try and help him on faceoffs, support him,” Byron added. “Starting with the puck makes the game go a lot easier. So I’ll look forward to playing with him if he’s back in the lineup tomorrow.”
Kotkaniemi finished the regular season with 5-15-20 totals and a minus-1 while playing in all 56 games. Suzuki was the only other Canadien to play in all 56 games.
Kotkaniemi failed to score a goal in the last 24 games and was pointless in the last 12. Byron noted that the 20-year-old Kotkaniemi has improved his defensive game.
“I think he’s getting stronger, more comfortable,” Byron said. “I think it’s pretty natural for someone to come into the league and struggle in that aspect. It’s the toughest part of the game. Everyone’s got offensive skills, offensive instincts, but the defensive side is so important. It’s pretty rare that you can jump from the level of competition at 17, 18, 19 years old to the top players and excel in that part of the game.
“Naturally, we’ve seen a big growth in his game,” Byron added. “I think he’s done a great job of it. It’s just about consistency in bringing all three parts of his game together for every game. It’s going to come. He’s still such a young player and there’s growing pains for everybody. We’ve all been through that. I know everybody in the organization has a lot of confidence in him and we all believe in him.”
Thoughts are with Tavares
The Canadiens players were happy to learn Friday that Leafs captain John Tavares was released from hospital on and was back home with his family recovering from a concussion he suffered in Game 1.
Midway through the first period, Canadiens defenceman Ben Chiarot bodychecked Tavares and as the Leafs captain fell to the ice Perry’s knee caught him in the head. Perry, who was back-checking, tried to jump out of the way of Tavares but wasn’t able to and his knee knocked Tavares out.
Tavares was taken off the ice on a stretcher after the scary incident and spent the night in hospital.
“A huge relief,” Byron said about Tavares returning home. “It really was hard to watch last night, honestly. Such a great player. You never want to see that part of the game. It just kind of killed the mood in the rink … it took a little while to get going. I think everyone felt the same way. I’m really glad to hear he’s OK. I hope him and his family are doing well. I can’t imagine how hard it would be for his wife and his kids to be watching on the TV, his family. I wish him the best in his recovery and hope to see him back on the ice soon. He’s a great hockey player.”
“Obviously, wish him the best in his recovery,” Staal said about Tavares. “I know a lot of people around the game and a lot of people that know John well and I’ve heard nothing but positive, great things about him as a person and a player. Being a guy with a wife and kids and knowing that he has the same, it wouldn’t have been a good feeling for them or for anybody. Glad to hear he’s recovering back and he will be home. We definitely wish him the best.”
“Nobody wants to see what happened last night happen to anybody” Petry said. “We hope he’s all right. Obviously, there’s going to be some changes in their lineup with him being out. You don’t want to hear it, but we’re focused on our game and we know that they have a few players that can step in there and we just got to be ready to defend strong and make sure that we’re ready to play.”
The ‘Stache Brothers
The Canadiens defencemen are all sporting moustaches for this playoff series.
“I honestly don’t know who initiated that,” Byron said. “I think it was a rally thing down the stretch and I think guys really like it, embraced the ‘stache. I don’t know whose idea it was, but I think it’s a great one. I think some guys look really good with the moustache and should keep it.”
Related The schedule
Here’s the rest of the schedule for the Canadiens-Leafs first-round series. All games will be televised on CBC, Sportsnet, TVA Sports and will be available on radio on TSN 690 and 98.5 FM:
Game 2: Saturday, May 22, 7 p.m., at Toronto
Game 3: Monday, May 24, 7 p.m., at Montreal
Game 4: Tuesday, May 25, time TBD, at Montreal
Game 5: Thursday, May 27, time TBD, at Toronto, if necessary
Game 6: Saturday, May 29, time TBD, at Montreal, if necessary
Game 7: Monday, May 31, time TBD, at Toronto, if necessary
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