Ahead of the final game of the year with the Winnipeg Jets, the Montreal Canadiens learned they would be without Shea Weber, ruled out with an upper-body injury. With the number of players available continuing to drop, they were forced to shuffle the blue-liners, creating a pairing of Alexander Romanov and Ben Chiarot to try to make up for the loss of their minute-eating captain.
Despite all the missing players, Montreal came out of the gate strong, with several good shifts in the offensive zone. The best of the first rotation came from the trio of Tyler Toffoli, Nick Suzuki, and Joel Armia, which set the tone for a more focused approach to get passes into the slot for dangerous chances.