Despite a 3-1 victory over the Islanders on Wednesday night, head coach Claude Julien has chosen to shuffle his lineup ahead of their rematch tonight in Brooklyn as part of his transition to experimenting with various players in different positions.
Habs lines at morning skate:
Pacioretty-Danault-Lehkonen
Galchenyuk-Drouin-Gallagher
Byron-De la Rose-Scherbak
A Shaw-Froese-Carr
Deslauriers-Hudon-L ShawNot clear which of the bottom two are in or out, but that’s the order they skated in.
— Аrpon Basu (@ArponBasu) March 2, 2018
The “fifth line” of Nicolas Deslauriers, Charles Hudon and Logan Shaw will all take a seat in the press box tonight. For Hudon, the demotion is not due to performance, but because the winger isn’t 100% after blocking a shot last game.
Meanwhile on defence, the only change is that Jordie Benn will sit while David Schlemko rotates in on the bottom pair alongside Mike Reilly.
Habs D at morning skate:
Mete-Petry
Alzner-Juulsen
Reilly-Schlemko
BennIt was pretty fluid with guys rotating, but looks like Schlemko comes in for Benn tonight. To be confirmed.
— Аrpon Basu (@ArponBasu) March 2, 2018
Charlie Lindgren gets the nod in net after Antti Niemi stifled the Islanders on Wednesday. Lindgren registered his second shutout of the year in a 1-0 shootout loss to the Flyers on Monday.
