Game 12 – Canadiens vs. Blues: Dobes’ Homecoming?

The Montreal Canadiens face the St. Louis Blues Tuesday night in the middle of a short but important winning streak. Since losing Nick Suzuki to injury, the Habs have won their last two games, largely thanks to Jacob Fowler’s impeccable play. Now, though, Montreal is in Jakub Dobes’ home-away-from-home. He has to play sometime this week; you don’t want rust to set in, and all things considered, before his overtime mistake against the San Jose Sharks, he wasn’t playing badly.

He’s already missed the Heritage Classic; can Martin St-Louis keep him from making it back for his homecoming? The Blues are weaker than the Dallas Stars, whom Montreal faces on Thursday; that’s another variable to keep in mind. The Canadiens did lose both games against their Central Division foe last season: 4-3 in December at the Bell Centre with Dobes in net and 2-0 in January with Fowler between the pipes. The coach didn’t care that it was Dobes’ home-away-from-home then.

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The Blues made some changes this offseason: they acquired Mason McTavish, Connor McMichael, Ross Johnston, and Brandon Carlo, while Jordan Kyrou, Matthew Kessel, and Justin Holl left. Those moves haven’t brought much success yet; St. Louis is 5-5-1 this season and currently 10th in the Western Conference. Meanwhile, the Canadiens are 6-3-2 and hanging on to the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference.

There won’t be a morning skate, so we won’t know until later in the afternoon who gets the nod from St-Louis. Dobes is 0-1-0 against the host with a 4.48 GAA and a .783 save percentage. Meanwhile, Fowler is also 0-1-0, but he’s got a 2.13 GAA and a .895 SV. One of these options seems better than the other, but there are other variables at play,

Joel Hofer had the last start for the Blues but lost 4-0 to the Carolina Hurricanes. He has been St. Louis's top choice this season, playing eight games to Jordan Binnington’s three. However, Binnington beat the Habs twice last season. He has a 5-4-0 record against the Habs with a 3.02 GAA and an .892 SV. Meanwhile, Hofer is 1-0-0 against the visitors with a 3.00 GAA and a .909 SV.

Up front, Chris Kreider, who’s been held pointless in the last eight games, is the Habs’ most productive forward against the Blues with 18 points in 22 games. Suzuki has 12 points in 11 games, but he won’t play, as established. Cole Caufield is next, with 10 points in nine games, followed by Phillip Danault, who has nine points in 21 games. Nobody seems particularly fond of playing the Blues. Kaiden Ghule has goals in the last two games, can he keep the streak going? He has never notched a single point against the Blues.

Meanwhile, Cam Fowler leads the way against Montreal with 19 points in 25 games, followed by Robert Thomas with 15 points in 10 games and Pavel Buchnevich with 12 points in 19 games. Mason McTavish and Dylan Holloway have been the players to watch in St. Louis this season with 10 points in 11 games.

The Blues have won six of the last 10 duels between the two teams, including the last three. This duel certainly won’t be a walk in the park for St-Louis’ men. The game is set for 8:00 PM, and you can catch it on RDS in French and TSN2 in English. Wes McCauley and Brandon Schrader will referee, while Julien Fournier and James Tobias will serve as linesmen.

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