The Montreal Canadiens will take on the Florida Panthers at the Bell Centre on Thursday night, here's what you need to know ahead of the tilt.
After their dominant win over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night, the Montreal Canadiens will get a bigger challenge on Thursday night, taking on the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, the Florida Panthers. It’s not an easy year for the Florida outfit; they lost captain Aleksander Barkov before the season had even started, and Matthew Tkachuk has yet to play a single game, but is nearing a return to play after undergoing surgery on August 22 to repair a torn adductor muscle and a sports hernia. He practiced with a regular jersey on Tuesday, but the Panthers have yet to give a timeline for his return.
As if Florida didn’t have enough injury worries, Brad Marchand, who is having an incredible bounce-back year with 46 points in 41 games, left the last game with an injury that, according to coach Paul Maurice, had been nagging him for some time. The Panthers lost their previous game against the struggling Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 and have a 5-4-1 record in their last 10 duels. As things stand, they are outside of the playoff picture, looking in with 44 points and a points percentage per game of just .560. Meanwhile, the Canadiens are in second place in the Atlantic Division with 54 points and have a .628-point percentage per game.
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Martin St-Louis’ men have a 7-1-2 record in their last 10 games, and it’s safe to say that calling up Jacob Fowler did give the team a much-needed shock. The youngster was brilliant against the Flames on Wednesday night, putting up a .970 save percentage. As for who’ll be in net tonight, we’ll only find out when the coach speaks to the media around 4:00 PM. Jakub Dobes has won his only game against the Cats with a 34-save shutout. Meanwhile, Samuel Montembeault, who was in the net last week when the Habs beat Florida on their own turf, is 5-4-1 against the visitors with a 3.56 GAA and a .896 SV.
At the other end of the ice, Sergei Bobrovsky was in the net on Tuesday, but it would be surprising if he weren’t again on Thursday. The Panthers need those points. The Russian netminder has a 16-9-1 record against the Habs with a 2.47 GAA and a .918 SV. Meanwhile, backup Daniil Tarasov, who faced Montreal last week, has a 0-1-1 record with a 2.72 GAA and a .897 SV.
Up front, Brendan Gallagher is the Habs’ most productive forward against Florida with 24 points in 41 games, but Nick Suzuki is hot on his heels with 22 points in just 20 games. Cole Caufield and Josh Anderson both have 14 points, but the former in just 15 duels, while the latter needed 25 games to reach that total and is unlikely to play tonight. As for sophomore Lane Hutson, he has nine points in five duels with Florida and considering how productive he’s been of late, Maurice’s men will need to keep him in check if they want to come out on top tonight.
Meanwhile, Marchand is by far the most productive Panther against the Sainte-Flanelle, at least amongst those who may play tonight, with 49 points in 59 duels. Sam Reinhart comes in second place with 24 points in 35 tilts, while Sam Bennett, who Team Canada snubbed for the upcoming Olympics, has 22 points in 29 games.
The Canadiens have now won six consecutive games against the Panthers, while the Florida outfit had won the four meetings before that streak. This will be the second of three duels between the two sides this season. The game is scheduled for 7:00 PM, and you can catch it on RDS, TSN2, and SCRIPPS. Referees Kelly Sutherland and Tom Chmielewski will be in charge of the game alongside linesmen Steve Barton and Michel Cormier.
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