Gameday 31 – Canadiens vs Flyers – Armia to sit – Lines, Notes

Forward Joel Armia looks set to be a healthy scratch tonight when the Montreal Canadiens host the Philadelphia Flyers tonight.

Armia ia stuck on just one goal this season after signing a four-year, $13.6 million dollar contract extension. He hasn’t done a whole heck of a lot the two games he’s played since returning from an undisclosed injury.

The Finn surprisingly took line rushes on the blueline at practice yesterday next to AHL call-up Corey Schueneman. The move is kind of a surprise because Ducharme has been reticent to sit veterans so far this year. Not to mention that Armia has been one of the coach’s favourites since he took over in March.

“He’s good when he’s dynamic,” said Ducharme when asked about what’s been missing from Armia’s game this season. “…he’s good when he’s in motion, when he’s moving. That’s where he’s good at protecting pucks, he’s getting the puck more often, he’s winning more battles. That means that he has the puck more and that’s where he’s good. He’s protecting that puck once he has it and when he’s in that mindset, he’s hard to stop. We want to see that from him.”

Called up and sent back

The Montreal Canadiens made some decisions on some young players today.

The club announced that they have sent Mattias Norlinder back to Frolunda of the SHL. The 2020 third-round pick played 12 games split between the Habs and the AHL’s Laval Rocket with a goal and two assists. More to come tomorrow on MHN on the Swedish defenceman.

The team also recalled goaltender Cayden Primeau from the Rocket. He’ll get thrown into the fire tonight against his father Keith’s former team. It’s Primeau’s third start of the season for the Canadiens.

Here’s how your Montreal Canadiens are expected to line up tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers

Forwards

Mike Hoffman – Nick Suzuki – Jake Evans

Jonathan Drouin – Laurent Dauphin – Jesse Ylonen

Artturi Lehkonen – Ryan Poehling – Cole Caufield

Michael Pezzetta – Cedric Paquette – Mathieu Perreault

Defencemen

Ben Chiarot – David Savard

Alexander Romanov – Jeff Petry

Brett Kulak – Kale Clague

Goalies

Cayden Primeau

Samuel Montembeault

Floundering Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers haven’t been nearly as disastrous as the Montreal Canadiens this season. But expectations have certainly not been met for Philly.

The Flyers fired head coach Alain Vigneault and assistant head coach Michel Therrien on Dec.6th. Coincidentally, both those gentlemen used to coach the Habs.

Mike Yeo has taken over on an interim basis and the team seem to be starting to get on the right track. Philadelphia have won three straight and are 3-1 in the four games since the coaching change.

Captain Claude Giroux has been leading from the front despite the team’s 11-12-4 record on the season. Giroux has put up 24 points in 27 games. He has spent the majority of the year in the middle this year after bouncing between centre and wing last year.

Goaltender Carter Hart has relatively rebounded for his team this year as well. After a disastrous 2020-21, Hart has a 2.80 GAA and a .915 save percentage. He will get the start in net tonight against the Habs.

On the injured

Here are how the Philadelphia Flyers are expected to line up against the Montreal Canadiens per Puckpedia

Forwards

Scott Laughton – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny

Oskar Lindblom – Claude Giroux – Cam Atkinson

Maxwell Willman – Kevin Hayes – James van Riemsdyk

Jackson Cates – Patrick Brown – Zack MacEwen

Defencemen

Ivan Provorov – Justin Braun

Trevor Sanheim – Rasmus Ristolainen

Keith Yandle – Kevin Connauton

Goalies

Carter Hart

Martin Jones

NOTES

• Claude Giroux needs two points to pass Bill Barber for first all-time in points in Flyers franchise history