Game 3: Canadiens vs. Hurricanes – Time For Revenge

It’s been over four long months since the Carolina Hurricanes swiftly eliminated the Montreal Canadiens from the Eastern Conference Final. On Tuesday night, the Habs will host them for the home opener at the Bell Centre. As if opening night at the Bell Centre needed any other reason to be special. The electricity in the air, the new presentation and video montage, and the crowd always go crazy on opening night. If the Sainte-Flanelle can avenge its elimination at the end of May, the building will be rocking even more.

The Tricolore has a 1-0-1 record after two games but has yet to find its rhythm and get a good performance from everyone in the lineup. In their first game in Toronto, the top six was barely visible, and in Pittsburgh on Saturday, much of the team took a period off in the second frame. Will that be enough to convince Martin St-Louis to make changes?

If opening night is special for the fans, it’s even more special for the players, and nobody wants to be a healthy scratch. It doesn't seem like Oliver Kapanen is ready to return to the lineup, according to this morning's practice.

The Canadiens announced that Ivan Demidov would be out for two to four weeks, which creates room to insert Xhekaj. At morning skate, the lines were as follows:

Caufield-Suzuki-Kreider
Slafkovsky-Newhook-Dach
Bolduc-Danault-Texier
F. Xhekaj-Evans-Anderson

The pairings remained unchanged and Jakub Dobes appeared to be the starter. 

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Last year, in the regular season, Montreal had come out on top in the three duels against the Canes. They posted a 3-1 win on the road in late March, a 5-2 home win on March 24, and another road win, 7-5, in early January, outscoring Rod Brind’Amour’s team 15-8. This will be the 221st meeting between the two teams and the Canadiens have a 115-76-20-9 record. 

Jakub Dobes started the first two games of the season, and although he didn’t have his best game in Pittsburgh, his playoff performance should have earned him the right to start the first home game. He is also 3-0-0 in the regular season against Carolina, with a 2.67 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage. As for Samuel Montembeault is 2-6-1 against the Hurricanes with a 2.91 GAA and a .914 SV in 10 career games.

Meanwhile, Frederik Anderson is no longer with Carolina, and Pyotr Kochetkov and Brandon Bussi now share the cage. The former played the last game, but the latter played the first two of the season and is seen as the team’s number one choice right now. Kochetkov has a 1-1-0 record against the Habs with a 1.50 GAA and a .936 SP, while Bussi has lost his only regular-season tilt against Montreal and has a 6.17 GAA and a .727 SP. Neither faced the Canadiens last spring.

Up front, Chris Kreider is the Habs’ most productive player against the Canes, having spent most of his career playing in the Metropolitan Division. In 43 duels, he has put up 30 points, 17 goals and 13 assists. Phillip Danault ranks second with 13 points in 25 games, while Nick Suzuki is third with 11 points in 18 games.

As for the visitors, Sebastian Aho is their biggest points producer against the Canadiens with 30 points in 25 games, followed by Jordan Staal with 24 points in 57 games and Taylor Hall and Nikolaj Ehlers, who both have 23 points- the former in 30 games and the latter in 24.

The two teams have split the last 10 meetings evenly, with each team taking five wins, but the Canadiens have won the last four regular-season games, while the Canes have won the last four playoff duels. The game is scheduled for 7:00 PM, but expect a delayed start, as the Habs always put on a special show for the home opener. Eric Furlatt and Peter MacDougall will officiate, while Jeremy Faucher and Caleb Apperson will be the linesmen. You can catch the game in French on RDS, while you’ll have to go to TSN 2 for the English version. Will the Canadiens avenge their elimination? 

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