The Habs Top 6 Needs Some Changes

One of the main issues with the top line of Juraj Slafkovsky, Nick Suzuki, and Cole Caufield is that they have been matched up against defensive specialists Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli along with either Jake Guentzel or Nikita Kucherov on rotation. The two defensive specialists have been the Lightning’s best players, as they seem to know exactly how to stop the Habs’ three best forwards by giving them no room to make a play. Despite an effort to try to get away from the Lightning’s elite checking forwards, head coach Jon Cooper was able to easily get quick line changes to continue matching Cirelli and Hagel against the Suzuki line.

According to Pierre McGuire on the Post-Game show on Friday, he believes that had Suzuki won his draws as he did in Game 1, Cooper wouldn’t have had the ability to make the changes that he did on the fly, as the Canadiens weren’t able to get the puck off the draw and, therefore, couldn’t put pressure on the Lightning. With that being said, it is easier said than done, but if Suzuki can start winning his faceoffs more often, it could be a way to help the top line start creating some offence.

Another thing that seemed to hurt the Habs’ top line is that the Lightning’s top defensemen did everything they could to not give Caufield an inch in the first two games, which seemed to make him panic more when he finally got opportunities. Caufield has now gone completely cold to the point that he wasn’t able to take advantage of his prime scoring chances in Game 3, such as a breakaway that he fanned on or the 2-on-1 in overtime where the defenseman’s stick stopped his shot.

Meanwhile, the 2nd line just can’t figure out how to get anything going early in the playoffs, which makes a switch on the two lines maybe a good idea to try something that could work. On the Habs Tonight pregame show before Game 3, it was mentioned that if the Habs’ top line continues struggling, it may be time to go back to duos. After yet another night where the top two lines have been shut out and got outplayed by their opponents, now would be a good time to make switches in the lineup.

For starters, the easy move can be to put Slafkovsky back with Oliver Kapanen and Ivan Demidov. By having Slafkovsky alongside Demidov once again, it creates another great offensive duo that can take pressure off Caufield and Suzuki, as the Lightning will also need to make sure to have players to shut down both units. As a result, we may see Caufield and Suzuki have more room in some shifts to create some magic.

Newhook could be a good fit next to Caufield and Suzuki, as he would allow the duo to be able to create offence in a fast transition style similar to how they had success with Alexandre Texier during the regular season. Given how well Texier played with Kirby Dach and Zack Bolduc in Game 3, that line shouldn’t be broken up. While the Habs’ checking line of veterans should stay together to give the Canadiens a shutdown line. Therefore, Newhook would have to be the guy to insert with Suzuki and Caufield, but there is also reason to see why it would work as it did with Texier earlier on.

Do you think it is time to make line changes, or do you believe that the current lines will figure it out?