The Montreal Canadiens will take on the Anaheim Ducks for the first time this season, starting the last stretch before the end
For the first time this season, the Montreal Canadiens will be taking on the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night. The California-based outfit is currently second in the Pacific Division, and it looks like it will qualify for the playoffs for the first time since the 2017-18 season. Keen to help their playoff push, GM Pat Verbeek acquired veteran offensive defenseman John Carlson from the Washington Capitals for two draft picks early on Friday morning. The rearguard has 46 points in 55 games this season and will bring some veteran leadership to a young Ducks side.
This game will be the first duel between rookies Beckett Sennecke and Ivan Demidov. While the Habs’ rookie led the scoring race for most of the season, Sennecke recently overtook him and is now in pole position with 51 points in 61 games, while Demidov has 48 points in 60 games. The young Russian was outshone by the New York Islanders' rookie blueliner Matthew Schaefer when they faced off last week, and he will no doubt want to win his duel with Sennecke.
The Canadiens had a new look at practice on Thursday, not because Kent Hughes went out to get some reinforcements, but because Martin St-Louis decided to change his lines. Since coming back from the Olympics break, his second line had been ineffective, and he decided it was time to put red-hot Alex Newhook back with Demidov and fellow rookie Oliver Kapanen.
As a result, Juraj Slafkovsky went back to the first line, a welcome change for captain Nick Suzuki after having a revolving door on his wing since the big Slovak was moved to the rookie line. This also means that Kirby Dach is moving to Jake Evans’ wing alongside Zach Bolduc. Dach and Bolduc had shown some chemistry early in the season, and the reunion may be good for them. As for the Brendan Gallagher, Philip Danault and Josh Anderson line, it’s the only one that remains untouched.
After Thursday’s practice, St-Louis refused to confirm if there would be any lineup change on the blueline, simply saying “I don’t know” when he was asked if Arber Xhekaj would play. The gritty defenseman has been linked to the Calgary Flames in trade rumours, but he’s still a member of the Canadiens at the time of writing.
The Ducks have a 7-3-0 record in their last 10 games and have won their last game 5-1 against the Islanders, with Sennecke leading the charge with a goal and an assist and Ville Husso manning the net. Since he’s the backup, chances are the Canadiens will face Lukas Dostal on Friday night. The Czech netminder has a 2-1-1 record against the Habs with a 2.69 goals-against average and a .897 save percentage. Meanwhile, Husso has a 4-0-2 record against Montreal with a 1.95 GAA and a .929 SV.
As for the Habs, St-Louis has already confirmed that Samuel Montembeault would be in the net after Jakub Dobes lost his last game and gave up six goals against the San Jose Sharks. The Becancour native has a 2-5-0 record against the Ducks with a 2.89 GAA and a .894 SV. As for Dobes, he has never taken on Anaheim.
Up front, Gallagher is the Canadiens’ most productive player against the Ducks with 12 points in 15 games, followed by Patrik Laine, who has 11 points in 14 games but won’t play tonight. Suzuki comes in third place with seven points in nine games.
At the other end of the ice, veteran Alex Killord has 21 points in 42 duels against the Canadiens, followed by Ryan Strome with 17 points in 24 games and Frank Vatrano with 13 points in 21 games. Newly acquired Carlson has 28 points in 46 duels against the Tricolore, but it remains to be seen if he’ll be dressed on Friday after the trade went down during the night from Thursday to Friday.
The Canadiens have a 4-6-0 record in their last 10 games against the Ducks, and they lost their last meeting, 3-2 in Anaheim in February 2025. The game is scheduled for 9:00 PM ET, and you can catch it on Victory+, KCOP-13, TSN2, and RDS.
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