The Montreal Canadiens will ice a decidedly different-looking team from the one that snapped Boston’s 12-game winning streak on Monday.
The two forwards injured by Bruins d-man Kevan Miller -- Travis Moen and Dale Weise -- are out for tonight’s game against Buffalo, replaced by Lars Eller and Ryan White. On defense, Jarred Tinordi will return from his stint as a healthy scratch and suit up -- at the expense of veteran Francis Bouillon, who’ll sit.
In goal, Carey Price will get the start after Peter Budaj was brilliant in stopping 28 of 29 shots against Boston.
These certainly are interesting times for the Habs. With Moen, Weise and Brandon Prust out of the lineup -- Prust was lost for the remainder of the regular season last week with an upper-body injury -- the team definitely lacks some grit and toughness in its bottom-six forward group, something that’s historically been an issue given the lack of size among the top-six.
That said, the club has shown some major resiliency lately.
Montreal has won five of six after a tough stretch from Mar. 3-12, where they lost three of four during a Western road swing through L.A., Anaheim, Phoenix and San Jose. The Habs then returned home for a listless 4-1 loss to Boston, which seemed to provide a spark -- since then, Montreal’s racked up wins over Ottawa, Colorado, Buffalo, Toronto and Boston to draw even with Tampa Bay on points (87) in the Atlantic Division.