After a stretch that has seen the Montreal Canadiens struggle to score goals at even strength and on the power play, Claude Julien has decided to make some significant changes to the units.
Claude Julien brasse sa soupe ce matin. Il sépare le duo Drouin-Domi.
Drouin-Danault-Gallagher
Lehkonen-Domi-Armia
Tatar-Kotkaniemi-Byron
Agostino-Chaput-DeslauriersMete-Weber
Reilly-Petry
Kulak-BennPrice
— J-F Chaumont (@JFChaumontJDM) January 12, 2019
The biggest changes come on the top three lines where all three centres get a new linemate or two. Jonathan Drouin gets Tomas Tatar’s spot with Phillip Danault and Brendan Gallagher. Max Domi gets Artturi Lehkonen and Joel Armia, while Jesperi Kotkaniemi gets Tatar and Paul Byron.
The result are lines that have a mix of offence and defence on every line, and makes the balance even greater than it was.
The fourth line remains unchanged as Charles Hudon and Matthew Peca seem to be healthy scratches again.
On defence, Mikey Reilly looks set to return to the lineup and Karl Alzner will likely sit.
The power play also saw some changes.
#Habs power play gets a facelift:
Agostino
Weber – Byron – Armia
DrouinGallagher
Kotkaniemi – Tatar – Domi
Petry— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) January 12, 2019
Kenny Agostino goes to the top power play unit, and Shea Weber looks to be playing on the half wall in a shooting position. The second unit also looks a lot more balanced with the Canadiens maybe looking for a two-pronged power play approach.
Montreal hosts the Colorado Avalanche Saturday night at the Bell Centre.
