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Five Rookies on D | PREVIEW: MTL @ TBL

Cole Jurzyniec

GAME DAY PREVIEW | Montreal Canadiens vs Tampa Bay Lightning: Preview, TV, Start Time, Statistical Match-up, Projected Lines, Starting Goalies, Keys to Victory, Habs Tickets

Game Preview 

A Look Back

The fourth line was dialed in for the Canadiens on Friday night. Jake Evans netted his first goal of the season and Michael Pezzetta sniped one bar down. From there Jake Oettinger shut the door. The Stars followed with four unanswered goals, three of them coming on the man-advantage. Joel Kiviranta put the Canadiens away with an empty net goal.

Last game: MTL 2  DAL 4  F

For a complete game recap: Bad Penalties Sink Habs | RECAP: MTL @ DAL

Players to Watch

  • Jake Evans
    The 26-year-old Ontario native has had an underwhelming season with six assists and one goal through 34 games. But last game against Dallas, Evans was arguably the most dangerous Hab on the ice. With a goal and an assist in the past two games, Evans could be finding some rhythm.
  • Justin Barron
    The 6-foot-2-inch defender has been recalled from the AHL. Barron has been playing exceptionally well for the Laval Rocket leading all defenders with five powerplay goals and is producing at a respectable rate with 16 points through 25 games. The Nova Scotia native will be looking to take advantage of the opportunity.
  • Arber Xhekaj
    If we’re talking consistent play, the Hamilton native is in the conversation. Xhekaj picked up an assist on Friday night off the Michael Pezzetta snipe and continues to impress with his defending. Xhekaj is currently tied for 16th in the league with 96 hits and is sitting with a commendable plus-2 rating. Number 72 is not squandering his NHL opportunity and proves day in and day out why he deserves to be in the line-up.

Keys to Victory

  • Create offense
    In terms of offensive stats, the Canadiens are almost at the bottom in every rank. The most disappointing this season has been the power-play. The team has no flow or control with the man-advantage and it shows every night. Against an offensive powerhouse such as Tampa, they cannot miss any opportunity to put the puck in the net.
  • Win faceoffs
    The Canadiens haven’t succeeded in many departments this season but are just above league average in faceoff success tied for 12th place. But they were exposed on Friday after they posted a 39.7 win percentage against Dallas. The Habs will want to win the key faceoffs against the Lightning to control the pace and stay on the offensive side of the game.
  • Be disciplined
    The Dallas Stars completely dismantled the Canadiens on their power-play. Keeping the game 5-on-5 is where the Canadiens must compete. They need to shut down the top tier talent on Tampa to avoid getting caught flat-footed which could lead to poor penalties.
Statistical Matchup for Game 35
Amalie Arena, Tampa, FL | December 28, 7:00 PM ET | TV: SN, RDS, ESPN+, BSSUNX

2022-23  statistics
LIGHTNING CANADIENS
41 (14th) Points (rank) 33 (23rd)
20-11-1 Record 15-16-3
L2 Streak L1
7-3-0 Last 10 3-5-2
3.59 (4th) GF/G (rank) 2.68 (28th)
3.00 (14th) GA/G (rank) 3.47 (25th)
26.3 (9th) PP% (rank) 14.3 (32nd)
80.8 (9th) PK% (rank) 77.2 (20th)
49.0  Faceoff % 50.8
Pre-game Quotes
Marty St. Louis on the Tampa Bay Lightning
  • “I think they built that through the draft, when you think of their key guys. There was patience. It is the continuity of their core. […] They have been together for a long time. That’s what we want to try to become. It is a very difficult league. They had their disappointments, but they stuck to the process.”
Projected Forwards, Defense and Goaltenders (subject to change)
Forwards
Hagel – Point – Kucherov
Stamkos – Paul – Colton
Killorn – Cirelli – Maroon
Namestnikov – Bellemare – Perry		 Caufield – Suzuki – Armia
Hoffman – Dach – Drouin
Slafkovsky – Dvorak – Anderson
Pezzetta – Evans – Richard
Defensemen
Hedman – Bogosian
Cole – Cernak
Sergachev – Perbix		 Edmundson – Guhle
Xhekaj – Kovacevic
Harris – Barron
Out of the lineup
Scratched: Balcers, Fleury, Foote
Injured:		 Scratched: Wideman, Dadonov
Injured: Byron (hip), Price (knee),   (undisclosed), Gallagher (lower-body), Savard (upper-body injury), Monahan (lower-body), Matheson (lower-body)
Goalies
Andrei Vasilevskiy Jake Allen
Record: 13-9-1
GAA: 2.53
Sv%: .917
SO: 0
Alternate: Brian Elliott		 Record: 9-13-1
GAA: 3.26
Sv%: .900
SO: 0
Alternate: Sam Montembeault
 Game Expectations
These two teams met on December 17th. Eleven days later and the Habs now head to Amalie Arena in Florida to try and make up for their previous 5-1 loss and take down the dangerous roster. The Canadiens will need to bring top tier defending and get contributions from the bottom six to stick with the fast paced, offensively tilted Lightning.

Bottom Line

It was expected that the Canadiens would be in the mix at the bottom of the standings this season, but there is no excuse for the abysmal powerplay. The team needs to find a system that works on the man advantage and at the bare minimum put up a fight against teams without the poor discipline.
 Video Highlights

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