The Montreal Canadiens will take on the Carolina Hurricanes for one last time this season on Sunday afternoon at 5:00 PM, here's what you need to know ahead of the game.
After winning a fourth game in a row on Saturday night with a dominating performance over the Nashville Predators, the Montreal Canadiens will be taking on the Carolina Hurricanes for the third and final time this season on Sunday afternoon. Montreal comes to town on a four-game winning streak and has won the two duels between the two sides this season, outscoring Carolina 12-7 in the process.
With Tuesday’s 5-2 defeat fresh on their mind and with their bid to win the Eastern Conference on the line, Rod Brind’Amour’s men will not doubt be ready to go when the puck drops. Just like the Habs, Carolina was in action last night and scored a 5-2 win over the New Jersey Devils with Brandon Bussi in net.
Since both teams are on the tail end of a back-to-back, it stands to reason that we’ll see a rematch from Tuesday’s game in net with Jakub Dobes taking on Frederik Andersen. Dobes now has a 2-0-0 record against the Canes with a 3.51 goals-against average and a .897 save percentage. As for Jacob Fowler, who played on Saturday night, he has yet to take them on.
As for Anderson, he has faced the Canadiens 23 times, posting a 15-6-2 record with a 2.37 GAA and a .920 SV%. Meanwhile, Brandon Bussi has lost his only start against the Habs and has a 6.17 GAA and a .727 SV.
It will be interesting to see what the Canadiens’ lineup looks like this afternoon. Josh Anderson left the game in the first frame on Saturday night, and the team later announced that he was ill. If he’s not ready to go this afternoon, Martin St-Louis will have two choices to replace him: Patrik Laine, who is technically still injured and who doesn’t seem to be an option anymore and Arber Xhekaj. Alexandre Texier, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, has not made the trip, according to La Presse, and the team hasn’t announced any call-ups at the time of writing. There won’t be a morning or media availability prior to the game, so we’ll know more when warm-ups start on Sunday afternoon.
Brendan Gallagher is still the Canadiens' most productive player against the Canes with 16 points in 33 games, followed by Phillip Danault with 13 points in 24 games and Noah Dobson with 10 points in 19 games. However, this season, both Juraj Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov have four points in the two games played so far.
Meanwhile, short-lived former Hab Sebastian Aho leads the Canes in points against Montreal with 29 in 24 games, including five in the two games played this season. Jordan Staal is in second place with 24 points in 56 games, followed by Nikolaj Ehlers (23 points in 23 games) and Taylor Hall (23 points in 29 games).
While the Canadiens have only won four of their last 10 games against the hosts, they did win the last three duels. The Canes are 6-4-0 in their last 10 games, while the Canadiens are 7-3-0.
The game is scheduled for 5:00 PM, and you can catch it on FDSNSO, TSN2, and RDS. Gord Dwyer and Cody Beach will officiate, while Kiel Murchison and Tommy Hughes will be the linemen. After the game, the Canadiens will take off immediately for Tampa Bay where they’ll enjoy a day off on Monday before taking on the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.
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