The Montreal Canadiens welcome another struggling team at the Bell Centre tonight in the Columbus Blue Jackets and there's a Shea Weber homage on tap.
Nobody can argue the Montreal Canadiens are having a good season, the third year of their rebuild has not been smooth sailing so far and tonight, they'll take on a team that is struggling just as much as they are.
In their last 10 games, the Habs have a 3-6-1 record while tonight's visitors, the Columbus Blue Jackets are 3-5-2. In fact, before beating the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-2 last night, Dean Evason's team was on a six-game losing streak, sound familiar?
After putting up seven goals in their streak breaking win over the Sabres, the Canadiens were unable to put a single puck past Filip Gustavsson in a 3-0 defeat against the Minnesota Wild. Since then, Montreal has not practice so it's impossible to know if Martin St-Louis is contemplating any lineup changes, but the coach seemed satisfied after the tilt, so it wouldn't be surprising to see an identical lineup.
Personally, at this stage, I think it's time to give Kirby Dach some tough love. I fully understand that he's coming back from a serious injury, but the level of effort he is giving should not be affected. Furthermore, I believe he's the one who should be making way for Lane Hutson on the first wave of the power play.
Tonight, two former Canadiens will be back on the Bell Centre ice, center Sean Monahan and defenseman Jordan Harris. Monahan is probably still grateful to Kent Hughes for giving him the chance to bounce back after numerous injury plagued season.
After signing a one-year deal for less than $2 M with the Canadiens, the center put up 59 points in 83 games last season. That's right, not only did he stay healthy all year, but with the timing of his trade to the Winnipeg Jets, he even played an extra game. As a result, Monahan was able to sign a five-year deal with the Jackets last July for $5.5 M. The plan there was to reunite him with former teammate Johnny Gaudreau, but as you know, life threw a spanner in the works there when his life (and that of his brother) was tragically taken by an alleged drunk driver.
The loss of Gaudreau was a tremendous blow to the Blue Jackets, both on and off the ice so their struggles are easy to understand. Still, Monahan has kept going. In 16 games, he has put up 13 points and is second in scoring for the Columbus outfit, second only to Kirill Marchenko who has 16 in as many games.
As for the other former Hab, Harris has only been dressed for nine games and has yet to record a single point. Much like in Montreal, he finds himself in a rotation on the blueline and doesn't have a chair to call his own. Worse still, he saw the Jackets claim Dante Fabro on waivers, meaning that when Erik Gudbranson is back from injury, he could find himself on the outside looking in once again.
Just like the Canadiens, Columbus is not have stellar goaltending this season. Number one keeper Elvis Merzlikins is 3-5-1 with a 2.92 goals-against average and a .898 save percentage. As for backup Daniil Tarasov, he's appeared in seven games and has a 3-3-1 record, a 3.89 GAA and a 3.89 GAA.
Merzlikins was in net in the win over Pittsburgh last night so logic dictates he should make way for Tarasov tonight. He has never played a full game against the Canadiens, but in the one game he was used, he played over 54 minutes and stopped the 19 shots he faced, giving him a 1.000 SP but in as small a sample as can be. Meanwhile, the Merzlikins is 3-3-2 against the Habs with a 3.36 GAA and a .886 SP, so chances are the net will be Tarasov's.
At this age, you're all aware of the Canadiens' goaltending struggles so I won't add much here aside from Samuel Montembeault's and Cayden Primeau's record against the Jackets. The former has taken on the Jackets eight times and has a 4-3-0 record against them with a 3.20 GAA and a .898 SP. As for the latter, he has played Columbus twice and has a 1-1-0 record, with a 1.11 GAA and a .971 SP against them. Could this be the game to give him a confidence boost? St-Louis decided it wasn't and announced Montembeault would be in net.
Up front, captain Nick Suzuki has 15 points in 12 games against tonight's visitors, while Cole Caufield has seven points in as many games. Montreal's top scorer against them is Brendan Gallagher with 16 points in 28 games, with Mike Matheson being not too far behind with 13 points in 20 games.
For the Blue Jackets, James Van Riemsdyk has 34 points in 47 games, but he has been a healthy scratch of late. Monahan is second with 19 points in 25 games and Zach Werenski rounds up the top three with 10 points in 18 games.
Tonight's game will be the first of three meetings against the two teams this season and the only one set in Montreal. For the other two games, the Habs will have to cope with the Jackets' cannon toward the end of the month and in their last game before the Christmas break on December 23.
It will be the 42nd time the two sides play each other and the Canadiens have a 20-16-1-4 record. Surprisingly, the two teams have split the last 10 games. Montreal has won the last five, while Columbus won the five before that.
Although Brendan Gallagher missed today's morning skate to receive treatment, he will be in the lineup tonight while Rafael Harvey Prinard will have to wait a little more before making his season start, but he is nearing being 100%. Justin Barron will however be back in the lineup as Jayden Struble will skip a turn.
Before the game, the Canadiens will honour their former captain Shea Weber who will be added to the Ring of Honour after being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame last week. The game is scheduled for 7:00 PM but expect a small delay because of the ceremony.
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