The Montreal Canadiens will spend their first Saturday night in the madhouse on Madison, taking on the Chicago Blackhawks. Just like the Habs, the Hawks have played two away games this season, but they’ve lost them both, including a 4-3 overtime defeat to the Boston Bruins on Thursday night. The duel will be Chicago’s first home game of the season.

Last year, the teams met twice, and the Hawks won both games: a 4-3 win in January, a 4-3 shootout win in April, which was Ivan Demidov’s first career game, and a game in which the Canadiens needed two points to make the playoffs. The defeat meant that they had to get a point in the last game of the season to punch their ticket to the spring dance.

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Martin St-Louis has yet to reveal who will get the start in net, but logic dictates that Samuel Montembeault should get the net back. In five games against the Hawks, the Becancour native has a 2-1-2 record, a 2.72 goals-against average, and a .903 save percentage. As for backup, Jakub Dobes has never faced Conor Bedard and co. Meanwhile, Arvid Soderblom has a 2-0-1 record with a 2.21 GAA and a .917 SV against the Canadiens. As for Spencer Knight, he has a 1-1-0 record with a 3.52 GAA and a .875 SV. Both goalies have played so far this season, and a starter has yet to be named.

The Hawks’ most productive forward against the Habs is Nick Foligno, who has 24 points in 55 games, followed by Teuvo Teravainen, who has 22 points in 24 games. Tyler Bertuzzi rounds up the top three with 15 points in 22 games, but the Canadiens will, of course, need to keep a close eye on a few of the young Hawks. Bedard has four points in as many games against the Tricolore, Frank Nazar has a pair of points in two games, and rookie defenseman Sam Rinzel had a point in the only duel he took part in. The blueliner should be in the running for the Calder Trophy this season, if he keeps up his play from the short professional stint he had last season, putting up five points in nine games.

For the Canadiens, Patrik Laine has 27 points in 30 games against tonight’s hosts, and he’s the only Habs to have double-digit numbers against Chicago. Mike Matheson is the second most productive Hab with eight points in 15 games, and Cole Caufield has five points in seven games. Demidov also has two points in his only tilt against the Hawks, and he’ll be looking to avenge their wrecking of his NHL debut last April.

The Hawks have won six of their last 10 duels with the Habs, including the previous two, and will be looking for their first win of the season. Meanwhile, the Canadiens will be looking to start a winning streak after beating the Detroit Red Wings 5-1 on Thursday night and would love to finish their first road trip with a winning record.

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