Ex-NHL Exec Urges Canadiens To Avoid Slumping Top Line

The message here is blunt, and in hockey blunt usually means somebody has watched the tape. An ex-NHL executive is warning Montreal not to open elimination Game 7 with the Caufield-Suzuki-Slafkovsky line, which has been struggling at the wrong time. Coaches hate admitting it, but the first shifts often tell you whether a team is playing with confidence or trying to find it on the fly.