The Montreal Canadiens will have some reinforcements tonight in Kirby Dach, but Alexandre Texier will miss the game with an upper-body injury. Will the Habs be able to win their first game against the Wild since October 2019?
The Montreal Canadiens will be back in action on Tuesday night when they host the Minnesota Wild at the Bell Centre. Martin St-Louis’ men will be getting some reinforcements, as Kirby Dach will be playing his first game since November 15. There are no tough lineup decisions to make yet, since Alexandre Texier is day-to-day with an upper-body injury and will therefore be skipping a turn. Jared Struble will also be back in the lineup, taking over Arber Xhakej’s spot, his first game since January 13.
Since the Wild played on Monday night in Toronto with Filip Gustavsson in net, it makes sense the Canadiens would face Jesper Wallstedt. The 23-year-old netminder has only played 25 games in the NHL so far, and he has a 12-4-4 record this season with a 2.64 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage with four shutouts. Meanwhile, Gustavsson has a 2-2-1 record against the Canadiens with a 2.93 GAA and a .899 SV with one shutout.
St-Louis confirmed that Jakub Dobes would be back in the net. He has not played since last Monday, when the team won 6-3 against the Vancouver Canucks. The Czech netminder has a 0-1-0 record with a 3.20 GAA and a .885 SV. Meanwhile, Montembeault has a 1-2-1 record against Minnesota with a 3.23 GAA and a .885 SV.
Tonight’s game promises to be tough for the Canadiens, as they’ve lost their last 9 games against the Wild, their previous win dating back to October 17, 2019. The Canadiens’ most productive scorer against the Wild is Samuel Blais, who was a healthy scratch for the last game and will be tonight as well. He’s the only Hab to have reached double digits against tonight’s visitors with 10 points (including seven goals) in 16 games. Phillip Danault comes second with nine points in 23 games, while Brendan Gallagher is third with eight points in 18 games.
Captain Nick Suzuki has only got four points in 10 games, while Cole Caufield has three points in seven games. The sniper is red-hot right now, however, with five points in his last two games. As for the returning Dach, he’s taken on the Wild 10 times and has two assists to show for it.
Meanwhile, Marcus Johansson leads the Wild in offensive production against the Habs with 24 points in 33 games, followed by the newly acquired Quinn Hughes, who has 21 points (all assists) in just 19 games. Marcus Foligno completes the top three with 16 points in 34 games.
The game is set for 7:00 PM, and you can catch it on RDS, TSN2, FDSNNO, and FDSNWI. Eric Furlatt and Brandon Blandina will be the referees, while Brad Kovachik and Devin Berg will act as linemen.
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