Montreal Canadiens Make Surprising Lineup Changes for Game 1

The Montreal Canadiens faceoff against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 1 on Thursday night and will be doing so without some interesting names. The likes of Cole Caufield, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Alexander Romanov will all be scratched.

As anticipated based on practices since Saturday, #Habs Caufield and Kotkaniemi will sit out Game 1. However, Ducharme expects he will play them in the series. @TSN_Edge
— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) May 18, 2021

Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme confirmed the news on Tuesday but did mention he's expecting for them to play at some point of the series. This has Canadiens fans shaking their heads and many other around the NHL wondering what Montreal is doing.

Caufield has shown flashes of brilliance since arriving from the NCAA, with five points in 10 games with Montreal. He's also killed the Maple Leafs a couple of times this season, but apparently isn't needed for Game 1. Kotkaniemi record 20 points in 56 games, but it was the last postseason where his coming out party happened. He scored four goals in 10 games last playoffs and showed he has the ability to take over games. As for Romanov, the 21-year-old scored one goal and tallied six points in 54 games during his rookie campaign.

Here's what Canadiens' fans can expect based on practice lines, with Carey Price starting:

Tatar - Danault - Gallagher
Toffoli - Suzuki - Armia
Perry - Staal - Anderson
Byron - Evans - Lehkonen
Frolik - Kotkaniemi - Caufield

Edmundson - Petry
Kulak - Chiarot
Merrill - Weber
Romanov - Ouellet/Gustafsson