Poor Len Canayen has some advice for Habs' Luke Richardson

Ed. here. Game 2 of the National Hockey League (G. Betchman, Prop.) Stanley Cup finals, between Canada's team, the Montréal Canadiens, and the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning, is scheduled for 8 PM ET tonight.TB leads the series 1 game to 0 following a sub-par performance by the Habs on Monday night. Watch it on TVA Sports, SportsNet or NBC Sports. 

We hand over, now. to our National Sport Editor, Poor Len Canayen, who is taking time from his baking to give some advice to the Habs coaching staff.

Although three giveaways sealed the Habs' fate on Monday, the real problem was lack of offence. TB's goalie faced fewer than 20 shots, with only a handful being quality chances. My advice, therefore, is mostly related to the defence. [??? Walt.] 

Interim interim head coach Luke Richardson has been playing, as his third defence pairing, last-minute pickups Jim Merrill and Eric Gustafsson. The latter was billed as a "power play specialist" but against a team that doesn't take many penalties, so what! Both Merrill and Gustafsson are slow of foot, so are reluctant to join a rush for fear of getting caught pinching. 

So, Monsieur Luc, what you do is sit those two and put in, as your third D pair, Brett Kulak and Alexandre Romanov. The latter is just a kid, and makes the odd rookie mistake, but he's fast, aggressive, and not afraid to shoot. The chippy Kulak takes more than his share of penalties, but remember that our guys lead the league in short-handed goals!

Up front, if Joel Armia is not yet ready to take his place on the fourth line, consider putting Tomas Tatar in there. He's been in the château du chien since a  listless performance in the last part of the regular season, but he should be tired of the view from the stands, and might just turn out to be an unlikely hero.

Don't listen to dose other guys, Luke! Listen to me! Have I ever steered you wrong? Lifetime pct .988.

PS - The bagels are from St-Viateur Bagels in Montréal. Get `em while they're hot! Or, if you're not up for the drive, you can get `em delivered, to addresses on either side of the World's Longest Undefended Border (TM).