Preseason Preview Game 5 — Canadiens for the last time

Toronto Maple Leafs vs Montréal Canadiens
7 p.m. at Scotiabank Arena, TSN 2 & 4, RDS
Opponent’s site: Eyes on the Prize

Them

New Montréal goalie Samuel Montembeault is set to get the start against the Leafs. They claimed him on waivers from the Florida Panthers, although they haven’t absolutely said Carey Price won’t start the regular season, it sure looks that way.

Ryan Poehling, noted Leafs killer, is also set to be in the game. The rest of their lineup is here:

Canadiens Lines

Us

The roster for tonight has some interesting repeats from last night in Ottawa:

Centres Michael Amadio, Adam Brooks and Kirill Semyonov are all here again after playing last night in Ottawa. Pierre Engvall is not in the roster after his very good game, but other potential fourth liners like Kurtis Gabriel and (eventually) Semyon Der-Arguchintsev are here. This is last chance saloon time for Nikita Gusev, as well.

Based on yesterday’s practice, this is a good guess:

ok i was close (these lines per sheldon keefe):

Ritchie-SEMYONOV-Marner
Mikheyev-Tavares-Nylander
Gusev-BROOKS-Amadio
Seney-SDA-Gabriel

Rielly-Brodie
Dahlstrom-Liljegren
Menell-Rubins
Hollowell

Mrazek starts
Kallgren https://t.co/LqTrwvvC6H

— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) October 5, 2021

Defence is not really the issue, but if those pairings hold up, I’m intrigued to see Timothy Liljegren play with Carl Dahlstöm strapped to his back. Meanwhile whoever gets that top centre job will sure look like the choice for fourth line centre, and if it’s Brooks, there is going to someone surprising cut from the team.

The Game

While this is a test against almost a real NHL team, it’s not this game that matters, it’s the next one, the last preseason game where we should expect to see an opening night lineup. There will likely be one substitution made for Auston Matthews, like tonight, and possibly some extra depth players for one more look at potential fourth liners.

This game is the audition for a shot at playing in that game for a few people. Notably absent tonight is Michael Bunting, who has faded a little in effectiveness as the preseason wears everyone down. I’d say this game should have been a contest between him and Nick Ritchie, but it’s been made so obvious that the top line left-wing job is Ritchie’s to lose, and that he’ll be given it to start the season to see how he goes with Auston Matthews, that Bunting is in a different class of fight.

Bunting, Ilya Mikheyev, Alexander Kerfoot and Pierre Engvall are jockeying for three left wing jobs. I include Kerfoot in there because he wasn’t played on Kämpf’s left wing last night for no reason, that line with Ondřej Kaše on the right side is already being sold as Sheldon Keefe’s ultimate flexible third line with players who can move up to other roles, and play in ways that meet the opposition’s style. I love this in theory, but practice and theory often don’t quite connect on this team.

Tonight is about centres, and it seems like the Leafs have flipped the script and have more depth centres than they need for the first time in a very long time.