Habs coach Dominique Ducharme may make roster changes for Game 4, but not in net

MONTREAL -

Interim head coach Dominique Ducharme didn't close the door on possible roster changes for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals when the Montreal Canadiens face elimination against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday.

"If that's the case, then that's what it will be. We look at it like that every game, and we'll do the same things in the next few hours, the next few days, to prepare for our game on Monday," he said in a video conference.

The names of forwards Tomas Tatar and Jake Evans, as well as defencemen Alexander Romanov and Brett Kulak were a few of those mentioned during his news conference -- among others because Erik Gustafsson had a rather difficult night on Friday.

Ducharme simply said that Romanov is still part of the team's plans, even though he has been out of uniform for a while.

"Alex (Romanov) has played 54 games this season and two more in the playoffs," said Ducharme. "He's part of the team. He's young. We're still working with him. Just because he's not in uniform doesn't mean he's not part of the team. He's still learning."

Forget about the possibility that backup goaltender Jake Allen could be sent into the fray to save the Habs' season, even though Carey Price has an uncharacteristically low 83.5 per cent efficiency rating since the start of the final series against the Lightning.

"Carey is our man. He'll play on Monday. If you're wondering who our goalie is going to be on Monday, it's going to be Carey. You can point to one guy or the other, but it's a team sport. We're going to have to be better in front of him. We're going to need all 20 guys in uniform on Monday to play their best game. That's it," Ducharme said without hesitation.

-- this report by The Canadian Press was first publish in French on July 3, 2021.