Habs Lineup Changes Coming For Game 5?

Based on the lines at practice, it is showing that Joe Veleno may be coming into the lineup and could be playing with Phillip Danault and Jake Evans as part of the shutdown line. Meanwhile, Oliver Kapanen was seen as the extra forward at practice, which is leading to the belief he will be a healthy scratch.

As for the placeholders, Brendan Gallagher practiced next to Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield on the top line. Then, on the 2nd line, Patrik Laine was placed with Alex Newhook and Ivan Demidov. These placeholders are making it seem like Anderson will be moving up to the top 6 to add some much-needed grit to the Canadiens’ scoring lines. If that is the case, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him with Suzuki and Caufield, while Slafkovsky returns to the 2nd line, where he gets to be the main play driver on his line.

Considering how the top 6 forwards aren’t producing in this series at all at even strength, the Habs need some sort of change to get everyone going. Yes, Anderson has struggled alongside Suzuki and Caufield in the past, but at playoff time he can be exactly what the duo needs to start producing again, given that he has the ability to create room for skilled players with his speed and physicality. At the very least, while Slafkovsky-Suzuki-Caufield was a top 5 line in the regular season, it is just not working in the playoffs, particularly because the Habs are top-heavy, and once a team figures that line out, they can zero in on stopping that line to prevent the majority of the even-strength offence.

This is why making a switch to duos of Suzuki-Caufield and Slafkovsky-Demidov is a good plan to split up their top 4 offensive talents so that the threats could be spread out. Not to mention, Slafkovsky could help Demidov get going, as he’s done next to nothing in this series alongside a combination of Kapanen, Newhook, and Alexandre Texier. With that being said, playing with Slafkovsky, whom he had success with in the past, could be exactly what he needs to start generating offence. This duo has the ability to be the biggest offensive threats when playing together like they were back in December. Of course, if Slafkovsky is already too banged up from taking two blows to the head, it could hurt their overall performance, but it is worth trying to get some sort of offence out of the top 6 forwards.

*Update: it seems like Kapanen was rotating in and out with Patrik Laine so it could mean nothing for the lines but it is probably time for changes nonetheless.

What are your thoughts on the speculated new top two lines for the Habs heading into Game 5?