Canadiens Game 60: Joshua Roy’s Excellent Play As A Rookie

The Montreal Canadiens (23-28-8) are in Florida to face the Panthers (39-16-4) on Thursday night. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 pm ET.

The Habs are coming off a big 4-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday, putting an end to their five-game losing streak.

The losing streak was particularly frustrating for the players and head coach Martin St-Louis seeing as Montreal produced some of its best underlying numbers in years, but did not have the talent to match teams that are set to participate in the 2024 playoffs.

MUST READ: Canadiens Rebuild: A Silver Lining Emerges Amid Difficult Stretch

The Canadiens’ top line has cooled of late, giving other trios an opportunity to prove their worth down in the final stretch of the season.

This has led to a series of great games from one of the youngest players in the lineup. Joshua Roy still leads the Habs in expected goals (63 xGF%), a great sign that the best is yet to come for the 20-year-old.

In the meantime, Roy has four points in his last five games, playing a crucial role on a burgeoning line featuring Alex Newhook and Joel Armia.

It’s probably too early to suggest Roy is a full-time NHL player seeing as he’s only played 14 games, but all signs point to him being ready to play in the NHL. You could even go as far as saying there’s no way the team could justify removing Roy from the top six, let alone the entire lineup.

Goaltender Samuel Montembeault will face the Panthers, which is notable since it is a clear break from the usual three-goaltender rotation that has plagued the crease. Montembeault was the goaltender that secured the win against the Coyotes on Tuesday.

As for the Panthers, they continue to be one of the best and most aggressive teams in the NHL.

Former Hab Nick Cousins has quickly built a reputation as someone who is not burdened with class, intelligence, or affability. Consequently, he has become one of the most hated players in the league and has been involved in a bevy of embarrassing plays, including his homage to the Undertaker when the Panthers faced the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.

Say what you will about Cousins.

Seriously, go for it. We’ll wait.

Nick Cousins makes a miraculous recovery mere seconds after appearing to be in serious pain on the ice pic.twitter.com/Ga2ho4aZpW

— Michael (@mic_mazz) February 28, 2024

The other side of the coin is that despite being at the centre of many ugly plays this year, the Panthers have won more games than any other team in the NHL.

They specialize in adding injury to insult, which means we can expect yet another physical match-up, as has been the case every time the Habs and Panthers have met in the last two seasons.

Sam Reinhart continues to lead his team in scoring, with an impressive 39 goals in 59 games. He trails only Auston Matthews for the league lead in goals, but he has struggled to find the back of the net in recent games. Reinhart has not scored a goal in seven games, his longest dry stretch of the season.

For the view from the other side of the rink don’t forget to visit our sister site, Florida Hockey Now.

Montreal Canadiens Injuries

• Carey Price (IR)
• Chris Wideman (IR)
• Kirby Dach (out indefinitely, ACL/MCL)
• Rafael Harvey-Pinard (4-6 weeks)
• Christian Dvorak (out)
• Jayden Struble (day-to-day)

Florida Panthers Injuries

• Carter Verhaeghe (day-to-day)

Montreal Canadiens Projected Lineup

Florida Panthers Projected Lineup

Verhaeghe – Barkov – Reinhart

Cousins – Bennett – Tkachuk

Luostarinen – Lundell – Rodrigues

Gadjovich – Stenlund – Lomberg

Defence

Forsling – Ekblad

Mikkola – Mountour

Ekman-Larsson -Kulikov

Goalie

Bobrovsky

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