TAMPA | “We already had four. One more, I think it will not change much. Martin St-Louis kept a fairly simple approach to playing with five rookie defensemen on his roster.
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With the recall of Justin Barron and the withdrawal of Chris Wideman for this game once morest the Lightning, the Canadian will bet on five rookies on the blue line. This will be a first in the rich history of the team.
According to research by NHL statisticians, you have to go back to 2007 to find the last team to use five defensemen in a single game. The Philadelphia Flyers did so in a 3-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils on April 5, 2007.
That night, the Flyers counted on Braydon Coburn, Alexandre Picard, Lasse Kukkonen, Nate Guenin and Ryan Parent. Derian Hatcher was the only veteran on the blue line.
good young people
For the visit to Amalie Arena, Joel Edmundson will find himself in the same boat as Hatcher at the time with the Flyers.
“Yes, there will be five rookies, but our kids haven’t looked like rookies since the start of the season,” Edmundson said. It’s going to be a big challenge for us once morest the Lightning.”
“I will not change my role, he chained. I would like to communicate with the young people, as I do following each of my presence. If they make a mistake, they must forget it for the next presence. Robby (Stéphane Robidas) is also doing a good job with our recruits. It will not just be up to me to help them, there are also veterans among our attackers.
When told that the Habs will write a small page in their history with five defenders in uniform for the same game, Edmundson had a very spontaneous reaction.
“Oh yeah, that’s pretty cool! But I hope they will help us win.”
Armia on the right of the first line
On offense, St-Louis will offer another chance to Joel Armia to unlock. Still looking for a first goal following 23 games, Armia will find himself on the right wing alongside Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.
“I’d like to see him score a goal, find some production to boost his own confidence,” St-Louis said. But I think he’s been playing good hockey lately. I think it can help him.”
Evgenii Dadonov and Chris Wideman will watch the match from the press catwalk. Back in training with his teammates, Brendan Gallagher will still need time before returning to play.
The probable formation of CH
Caufield-Suzuki-Army
Hoffman-Dach-Drouin
Slafkovsky-Dvorak-Anderson
Pezzetta-Evans-Richard
Edmundson-Guhle
Xhekaj-Kovacevic
Harris-Barron
Allen
La formation probable du Lightning
Hagel-Point-Kucherov
Colton-Paul-Stamkos
Maroon-Cirelli-Killorn
Deputies-Bellemare-Perry
Hedman-Bogosian
Sergachev-Perbix
Cole-Cernak
Vasilevskiy