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The mountain of man is back.
Shea Weber will make his debut with the Canadiens when he plays the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night at the Bell Center (7:30 pm, TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio). This will be Weber's first game since the NHL 100 Clbadic outdoor match in Ottawa on December 16th. Since then, Weber has undergone surgery to repair the tendon lesions of the left foot and a second operation to repair a torn meniscus in the right knee.
Tuesday night will also be Weber's first game with the "C" as captain of the Canadiens.
After Tuesday morning skating in Brossard, coach Claude Julien was asked to have a clear idea of the ice time that Weber, 33, could handle in his first away game.
"I do not think you can go in that direction," said the coach. "I'd rather go with the feeling of what's going on. Could be an easy match for him tonight, could be a tough match for him tonight. We have to evaluate what we see and I think that's the best way to do it.
"We will see what he can handle and I am convinced that he can handle a lot of things," added Julien. "But I think that as a coach, you can not come in the morning and say, that's what we're going to do with him. The reality is that we need to see a guy who has not played for a year, how good he can handle his first game. You can practice at your leisure – we have seen it with injured players – but a match is much more intense and difficult. So we're hoping he'll manage it, but at the same time, I think we need to make sure we're at the top of our game as coaches to make sure we manage it well. "
Defense lines and badociations
Here's what the lines of defense and defense teams were like on Tuesday morning's skate:
Drouin – Domi – Shaw
Tatar – Danault – Gallagher
Hudon – Kotkaniemi – Lehkonen
Agostino – Chaput – Deslauriers
Byron – Peca – Scherbak
Schlemko – Weber
Kulak – Petry
Benn – Mete
Ouellet – Reilly
Striker Matthew Peca will play an important role against the Hurricanes, alongside defensemen Xavier Ouellet and Mike Reilly. Forwards Paul Byron and Nikita Scherbak continue to recover from lower body injuries.
The price starts in the goal
Carey Price will make his second consecutive start in the Canadiens' goals after allowing three goals on 35 shots in Saturday's 3-2 loss to the Boston Bruins at the Bell Center.
It looks like Price is back on her white boards after wearing the reds for her last eight games while posting a 2-4-2 record. Price wore his white pads – with which he had started the season – in training on Monday and again in the morning skating session on Tuesday.
For the season, Price is 7-6-4 with an average of 3.16 goals and a .897 save percentage.
Weber to the rescue on the power play?
In the lead up to the game, Canadians placed 30th on the power play with a success rate of 14.9%. The only team worse than the Chicago Blackhawks with 12.7%.
The return of Weber and his striking shot should certainly help Canadians on the power play.
"I think Shea Weber is a very big weapon for any power play," said Julien. "I think the other teams recognize it. Maybe this opens up some things that we have not had as open as before. If it's not the case, it's really a guy who can really shoot the puck and has always been good on the power play. At the same time, I think we all have to sometimes simplify our games. It's about moving the puck quickly, it's about making easy games. From time to time, I find that we are looking for whimsical or lucky pieces, which often causes us problems. So it's a matter of simplifying things and being a little more efficient. "
Here's how the two power play units were set up in a 1-3-1 format during morning skateboarding:
Drouin
Weber-Gallagher-Domi
Kotkaniemi
Schlemko
Petry Agostino-Tatar
Shaw
Quote of the day
Rookie Jesperi Kotkaniemi was asked after the morning skate to describe what it was like to be in front of the net in power play as Weber headed for a shot at the point.
"I almost pissed in my pants," Kotkaniemi said. "It's pretty scary. You should try that, guys.
Relief for Petry
Weber's return will reduce Jeff Petry's workload while serving as the No. 1 defenseman in the captain's absence.
As Tuesday night's game approached, Petry led the Canadians in ice time with an average of 24:57 per game. David Schlemko was ranked second in ice time with a 20:39 average, but had only played eight times, while Petry had played in the 24 years. Schlemko will be Weber's partner for the Tuesday night game, while Petry will be with newcomer Brett Kulak, who will play his third match since his call to the AHL's Laval Rocket.
"I enjoyed it … I enjoyed playing the heavy minutes," said Petry about Weber's replacement. "But I think getting him back and lightening the load a bit will benefit my game.
"I think everyone did a good job and that he knew that he was going to leave early in the year, we all had to be good and take over with his absence," added Petry. "It called the other guys to step up.
"I think it's good for our entire team," Petry said of Weber's return. "I think he's a guy who's showing leadership and an on-ice presence that I think will benefit us."
For his new defense partner, Kulak, Petry said:I thought he had good patience with the puck and that he had made good first badists in that first game. I really have to see him there. I think his game will complete mine and I think it's just to get to grips with each other in a game situation. Simply communicate on the ice and make sure we work well together. "
The sweetness of the home
The Canadians headed for Tuesday night's game in a four-game losing streak (0-2-2). They had a 6-4-2 record at home and a 5-4-3 record on the road.
Tuesday's game is the second of five straight home games for the Canadiens.
"It's about looking at the right areas and making sure you identify the right things, and I think there are areas where we can be a bit better and hopefully the, will manifest tonight, "said Julien about the four-game lost. "But you know, one game at a time. You can call it a series of four defeats. We had two games in overtime, so it's more important to watch the small picture and worry for tonight. Carolina is a pretty aggressive team. They will hit us hard. We must be precise in our decision-making and we must be quick in our decisions about the puck. These will be key points for tonight. "
Where are the Canadians?
The Canadians (11-8-5) were second in the playoffs for the Eastern Conference playoffs ahead of Tuesday night's game. They placed 15th in the NHL on offense, scoring an average of 3.08 goals per game and 26th in defense, giving an average of 3.38. They ranked 30th on the power play (14.9%), 16th (79.0%) and 31st (46.2%).
Max Domi led the Canadiens in scoring with a total of 11-15-26, followed by Jonathan Drouin (9-11-20), Tomas Tatar (10-9-19), Jeff Petry (2-15-17) and Brendan Gallagher (11-5-16).
Where are the hurricanes
The Hurricanes (11-9-3) were 10th in the Eastern Conference and were eliminated from the playoffs before Tuesday night's game. They placed 28th in the NHL in offense, scoring an average of 2.70 goals per game and 11th in defense, allowing an average of 2.83. They placed 20th on the power play (17.9%), 26th in penalties (75.4%) and ninth in faceoffs (51.8%).
Sebastian Aho led the Hurricanes in scoring with a total of 7-18-25, followed by Teuvo Teravainen (5-13-18), Micheal Ferland (11-4-15), Justin Williams (4-10-14) , Jordan Staal (5-6-11) and Andrei Svechnikov (5-6-11).
And after?
The Canadians will have a day off Wednesday, followed by workouts scheduled for Thursday and Friday at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard at 11 am to prepare for two consecutive games at the Bell Center against the New York Rangers on Saturday. pm, SN, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio) and the San Jose Sharks on Sundays (7pm, SN1, RDS, TSN 690 Radio).
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