The Montreal Canadiens made a less than triumphant return to the Bell Centre on Thursday night, dropping a 5-1 decision to the Florida Panthers to start their home stand. Though the five-on-five play was perhaps better than expected on the second half of a back-to-back, it was a tough start to a stretch that will see them hosting some very good teams in their own barn.
If they’re to have any hope of looking decent during said stretch, now is the time to bring back the Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki connection on the top line.
Caufield was one of the few players able to create things offensively against the Panthers. His biggest issue at this time appears to be the lack of a playmaker to set up his shots, with him instead having to play the role of playmaker himself. It is nice to see that facet of his game, but it isn’t his primary function in the lineup. They want him back doing what he does best, which seems to necessitate the passing of Suzuki at this point.
The main thrust behind separating the two to begin with was to spark production from players like Josh Anderson and Alex Newhook elsewhere in the lineup. That has worked sporadically at best, and now with the potential for Newhook to miss some time, and Anderson struggling no matter who he’s placed with, it seems silly to continue the experiment to the detriment of the overall on-ice product.
The conundrum of who to play with them once again rears its ugly head, however. Juraj Slafkovsky has been playing well of late, so he could be an option to try again in the short term. They could then try a second line redux of the Tanner Pearson, Sean Monahan, and Brendan Gallagher trio, and see if this top-six can get them through a challenging home stand. One thing is for sure, even if injuries aren’t a factor, it doesn’t seem like their configuration against Florida will be very watchable over the next three games at the Bell Centre.
A lot of this hinges on how long Newhook will be out, which should be clearer at some point today, or in the coming days. It may even require a body to be called up from the Laval Rocket, but that’s a bridge they’ll have to cross when they know more about their continued bad luck on the injury front.
The next few games might be rough no matter how they set the lineup, so they might as well give the Montreal faithful something to cheer about with Caufield and Suzuki back together.
Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available wherever you get your podcasts. We’ll be back after Saturday’s continuation of the home stand against the Detroit Red Wings.
