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Philadelphia — Guillaume Latendresse will make his return to the Montreal Canadiens lineup.
Latendresse confirmed after the Canadiens morning skate that he will play in game three of Montreal's second-round series against the Philadelphia Flyers tonight. The best-of-seven conference semifinal is knotted at 1-1.
Latendresse will play on the left side of the checking line with Bryan Smolinski and right wing Tom Kostopoulos. The fourth line will see Steve Begin between Maxim Lapierre and Mark Streit.
"We wanted to change the dynamics of our third and fourth lines," Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau said.
Guillaume Latendresse of the Montreal Canadiens takes a shot against the Boston Bruins during game three of the 2008 NHL Eastern Conference Quarterfinals on April 13 at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston. (Elsa/Getty Images)
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Latendresse was pointless in five games in the first round against the Boston Bruins. The young forward is a good player down low and has a bit of scoring touch.
In their 4-2 loss against the Flyers in game two, the Canadiens were the better team but lacked a finishing touch around the net.
Mathieu Dandenault will be scratched from the lineup to make room for Latendresse.
"It's not that Mathieu was playing bad," Carbonneau said. "We just wanted to make some changes."
Another change Carbonneau is hopeful for tonight will be a better start. In both games, the Canadiens have quickly found themselves down two goals. It's not that Montreal has played poorly out of the starting gate, but the Flyers have exhibited more finish with their opportunities.
Referees Marc Joanette and Brad Watson are expected to crack down on the number of post-whistle scrums that marred game two.
Of course, there also was the incident in which Kostopoulos sucker punched Flyers defenceman Kimmo Timonen after Philadelphia scored its fourth and final goal late in the third period on Saturday.
There was no supplementary discipline levied by the league on Kostopoulos, but the NHL hockey operations department would like to curb the post-whistle nastiness.
