Canadiens Game Day: Playoffs will provide a fresh start for the Habs

Dominique Ducharme must feel like the weight of the city has been lifted off his shoulders — at least for now.

The Canadiens clinched a playoff spot in the all-Canadian North Division with Monday night’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers at the Bell Centre. The Canadiens still don’t know who they will play in the first round — most likely it will be the Toronto Maple Leafs, but there’s a possibility it could be the Oilers — but they now know for sure that they will be in the playoffs.

For a while it was looking like that might not happen, which would have been a disaster after the Canadiens’ 7-1-2 start to the season. Ducharme was put in a tough position when he took over as interim head coach from Claude Julien when the Canadiens had a 9-5-4 record. The Canadiens are 15-16-6 under Ducharme, but it’s good enough to get them into the playoffs.

Ducharme is looking at the playoffs, which won’t start until next week, as a fresh start for him and his players.

“Yeah, it is,” he said. “You know … what we’ve been through is something very special. We’re going to be playing our 25th game I think in 43 days (Wednesday night). It’s never been done before. I know it looks easy to say: ‘Well, night after night you just come back and you’re just playing hockey. It’s not that complicated.’ But to win in that league, the margin between winning and losing is so thin that you need to be mentally challenging yourself to be on top every night. That’s something special, too, different.

“If you look back maybe 20-25 years, sometimes you could look at the schedule and say: ‘You know, we’re going to be having a rough patch here with big games. … Today you cannot win one game and think: ‘It’s going to be an easier night tonight. If we play just OK we’ll win.’ It’s such a challenge every night. I know it wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t great to see every night. But the guys never gave up and with the challenges we had with losing guys (to injuries) we could have been in real trouble. But we stuck with it and at times got some big wins at big times. I think we deserve to be where we’re at and going into the playoffs and having a chance to compete for the (Stanley) Cup.

Ducharme said Monday morning that he expects injured players Carey Price (concussion), Brendan Gallagher (fractured thumb), Shea Weber (upper body) and Phillip Danault (concussion) to all be ready to play when the playoffs begin. Ducharme added there was no timeline for when Jonathan Drouin might return after leaving the team indefinitely last month for personal reasons.

Paul Byron, who returned to the lineup Monday night after missing the previous nine games with a lower-body injury, scored a goal and added an assist against the Oilers. His linemates, Artturi Lehkonen and Jake Evans, also scored and the trio combined for eight points.

“This whole week I’ve been working on conditioning and skating,” Byron said. “I felt better than I have in a long time.”

Byron expects a similar situation with the other injured players when they return to the lineup for the playoffs.

“It’s not just the mental grind, the physical grind,” Byron said about this gruelling 56-game regular season which had the Canadiens playing their final 25 games in 44 days. “It’s both together … the travel. When you sit out and you’re watching games it just makes you that much more eager to come back and play even better. I know how Brendan is. He’s a competitor, he’s a warrior. There’s no doubt in my mind he’s going to come back fresh and ready to go to war. Same with Shea. I know those two guys would love to be on the ice right now, but I’m glad we got the point tonight, locking up a playoff spot, and when those guys come back it’s going to make our team that much better and we can’t wait to have them back.”

The Connor McDavid Show

Before Monday’s morning skate, Ducharme called Byron, Evans and Lehkonen into his office in Brossard and told them they would be matched up against Oilers superstar Connor McDavid.

The trio did a good job, limiting McDavid to an assist in regulation time before he scored the winner in OT. McDavid extended his point streak to six games, during which he has 5-13-18 totals. He leads the NHL scoring race with 33-69-102 totals in 54 games and is 21 points ahead of teammate Leon Draisaitl, who is second with 30-51-81 totals. In eight games against the Canadiens this season, McDavid has 3-7-10 totals.

The Canadiens have a 5-2-1 record against the Oilers this season.

“Sometimes you kind of want to ease yourself in for your first game back (from injury) but getting that assignment right away just kind of put me in a mental mindset that this was a playoff game,” Byron said. “There’s no easing back into it, you need to be 100-per-cent ready to play tonight. Jake and Art were unbelievable. It was great being able to play along with those two tonight. It was a lot of fun.”

Evans and Lehkonen both had a goal and an assist. Lehkonen also had a goal called back after a video review because he was offside.

For Evans, it was his first goal in 41 games and his third of the season.

“I think all three of us, our line was pretty excited for the challenge,” Evans said. “Our line together has worked well in the past and I think we like our speed and our grit and how hard we are on the forecheck. So to get that opportunity, I was excited. I wasn’t nervous. I love those opportunities and hopefully they can keep coming.

“I think I’m playing a little better,” Evans added. “I’m feeling better about my game now. I’m definitely happy with that, but it’s a long road ahead and I just want to keep working and keep feeling better about my game.”

Playoff audition?

When the injured players return for the playoffs, there’s no guarantee Byron, Evans or Lehkonen will keep their spots in the lineup.

Was Monday night’s game like a playoff audition for Byron?

“I honestly never thought of it like that, to be honest,” Byron said. “My focus was just playing tonight and trying to win a hockey game. That’s it. The playoffs are a week or so away, maybe further. But before today we didn’t even know where we sat. Tonight was an enormous game. We know what was at stake. I was just trying not to put too much focus on stuff that’s out of my control. For Dom to put our line together like that to go against Connor shows how much confidence he has in us. I thought Jake handled the task exceptionally well. Art, I can’t say enough about his big goal in the third period. Getting his goal called back to go out there and fire that rocket in that was great for him. He works hard and he deserved that one.”

Ducharme said he’s still not sure exactly what his lineup will look like for the playoffs.

“I know what we want to do with the team in terms of getting ready and the things that we want to do better, the things that we want to make sure we’re sharp doing,” the coach said. “I know on that side. If you ask me what are going to be the lines and the guys in the lineup and things like that, we still have to discuss about those things and also depends who we’re going to be playing. Anything can happen. We’ll know more, obviously, on Wednesday morning depending on Winnipeg and their situation.”

The Jets, who lost 3-1 to Vancouver Monday night, will play the Canucks again Tuesday night. The Jets can clinch third place in the North Division with a win or an overtime or shootout loss against the Canucks.

Some stats

The Oilers outshot the Canadiens 35-25, won 64 per cent of the faceoffs and also outhit the Canadiens 24-21.

The Canadiens went 0-for-2 on the power play, while the Oilers went 0-for-1.

Jeff Petry led the Canadiens in ice time with 24:52, followed by Ben Chiarot with 23:18 and Brett Kulak with 22:13. Nick Suzuki led the forwards with 22:13 of ice time followed by Tyler Toffoli with 19:55 and Evans with 17:17. Jesperi Kotkaniemi had a team-low 9:13 of ice time.

Joel Armia had four shots, while Josh Anderson and Eric Staal had three each. Byron had a team-leading four hits, while Joel Edmundson had three.

Evans went 9-8 on his 17 faceoffs (53 per cent), Staal went 3-6 (33 per cent), Kotakniemi went 2-4 (33 per cent) and Suzuki went 4-12 (25 per cent).

Tomas Tatar and Alexander Romanov were both minus-3 and Jon Merrill was minus-2. Merrill has no points and is minus-11 in 12 games with the Canadiens since being acquired from the Detroit Red Wings before the NHL trade deadline.

Edmundson was plus-3 and now ranks fourth in the NHL in plus/minus at plus-28, trailing Draisaitl (plus-31), Florida Panthers defenceman MacKenzie Weegar (plus-29) and Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse (plus-29).

Gallagher skates with teammates

For the first time since suffering a fractured thumb in a 3-2 overtime win over the Oilers on April 5, Gallagher skated with his teammates Monday morning at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard. Gallagher was wearing a no-contact jersey for the morning skate.

Price took part in Monday’s morning skate but hasn’t played since suffering a concussion in the first period of a 4-1 loss to the Oilers in Edmonton on April 19. Before suffering his concussion, Price had missed six games with a lower-body injury. He has only played in two games since April 5, suffering the concussion in his second game back from his lower-body injury.

Ducharme was asked how much of a concern Price’s lack of recent activity would be heading into the playoffs.

“We’ll see when we get there,” the coach said. “Our focus is not on that right now. Carey’s working … (director of goaltending Sean Burke’s) working with Jake (Allen) and Cayden (Primeau) and we’ll prepare our guys the best we can … the guys that are available. Depending on everything, we’ll consider once we get there, we’ll consider every situation, every aspect of it and we’ll make decisions.”

Canadiens can start getting vaccines

Ducharme said that Canadiens players will be able to start getting their COVID-19 vaccines on Thursday.

“(Age) 30 and more, for sure,” Ducharme said about which players would be the first to get the vaccines. “I got to check with the medical (staff about younger players). I know our players are starting to get the vaccine on the 13th (of May).”

The Quebec government announced on the weekend that appointments for COVID-19 vaccines were opening to everyone age 30 and older. By Wednesday, vaccine appointments will be available to those 25 and above, and by Friday, all adults 18 and above in the province will be able to book appointments.

What’s next?

The Canadiens have a practice scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday in Brossard before playing their final regular-season game Wednesday night at the Bell Centre against the Oilers (5 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).

scowan@postmedia.com

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