The Montreal Canadiens have a big game on deck against the San Jose Sharks at the Bell Centre, and here's everything you need to know ahead of the tilt.
This is going to be a big weekend for Martin St-Louis and his Montreal Canadiens, with two games against two teams that proved to be huge challenges last week. The first duel of this back-to-back will be against the San Jose Sharks, who beat the Habs 7-5 a week and a half ago. Ryan Warsofsky’s men lost three games in a row after their win over Montreal before bouncing back against the Boston Bruins on Thursday night, but they are still on the outside of the playoff picture, looking in. They trail the Los Angeles Kings by a single point, but they do have two games in hand, making tonight’s tilt incredibly important.
The Canadiens’ coach has already confirmed that Jakub Dobes will get an opportunity to avenge his loss to the Sharks last week. That was the Czech netminder’s sole game against San Jose; he therefore has a 0-1-0 record against the visitors with a 6.20 goals-against average and a .778 save percentage. Jacob Fowler is likely to act as backup, even though he’s never played them. There hasn’t been any sign of Samuel Montembeault getting back in the lineup yet. The veteran is 3-1-0 against the Sharks with a 2.76 GAA and a .908 SV, but his current form rules him out for now.
Meanwhile, the visitors have yet to confirm their starter, but Yaroslav Askarov is dealing with a nagging issue and was the backup in Thursday’s game. It remains to be seen if he will be ready to go tonight. He has a 1-1-0 record against Montreal with a 4.59 GAA and a .873 SV. The 23-year-old has 19 wins on the season, the second-highest number for a rookie netminder. Dobes leads the pack with 21 Ws. Backup Alex Nedeljkovic had a great outing in Boston, saving 39 of the 41 shots he received, and he has a brilliant record against the Habs; he’s 3-1-1 with a 1,74 GAA and a .947 SV.
Up front, Cole Caufield will be back in the lineup, but Alexandre Texier won't come out; Brendan Gallagher will. Joe Veleno and Patrik Laine will remain out. Arber Xhekaj was practicing with the third pairing and should therefore be reintegrated into the lineup. Phillip Danault is the Habs’ leading scorer against the visitors with 12 points in 27 games, followed by a quartet of players who all have eight points: Noah Dobson (in nine games), Nick Suzuki (in 10 games), Josh Anderson (in 15 games), and Alex Newhook (in 11 games). It’s worth noting that Jake Evans will be trying to establish a career high with a point in a seventh consecutive game, while Lane Hutson is on a five-game point streak with seven points in that span.
As for the visitors, former Hab Tyler Toffoli is the Sharks’ most productive forward against Montreal with 20 points in 23 duels. Defenseman Dimitry Orlov follows with 18 points in 34 games, and Alexander Wenneberg wraps up the top three with 17 points in 23 games. Young phenomenon Macklin Celebrini is on a seven-game point streak, putting up five goals and five assists in that span, including four points in the last game between the two sides.
Each team has won five of the last 10 meetings, but the Canadiens won the last duel in Montreal in overtime, 4-3. The game is set for 7:00 PM, and you can catch it on TVAS, CITY, SNE, and NBCSCA. Furman South and Eric Furlatt are set to officiate, while Ryan Daisy and Kyle Flemington will be the linemen.
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