GAME DAY | Avalanche – Canadiens: Preview, Prediction, Lines, Goalies, TV

Sam Gerber

6 years ago

Game Preview by Sam Gerber

Last game : MTL 1 STL 4 The Canadiens defense was terrible giving up one high danger scoring chance after another. The Habs gave up multiple breakaways and didin’t defend well while shorthanded. Montreal was fortunate to go 1-for-6 on the power-play with some help from the Blues defence. It has been a rough week for the Habs who have fallen out of a playoff position.

For a complete game recap: Habs Soft, Not Ready says Julien

Players to watch

Paul Byron
Byron is simply not a power-play guy but his work ethic may help provide an example to the slow execution and lazy play on the man advantage by Jonathan Drouin. Making improvements could be key for the Habs.
Carey Price
Price was hung out to dry last game. There was nothing he could do on any of the goals. The game against the Blues would have been much worse if he hadn’t stood on his head.
Shea Weber
With the Habs having a tough week, Weber himself suffered a facial injury. The character captain is playing through it. Weber is showing just how tough he is to play against.

Keys to Victory

Slow it down
The Avs are a very fast team and will push the pace of the game. The Habs have to be careful to not get ahead of themselves. Slowing the game down and disrupting the Colorado attack may frustrate them.
Use your depth
Montreal has more depth and better secondary scoring than the Avalanche. The Canadiens need to take advantage of the match-up battle.
Win special teams
The Habs power-play will never be great this season but they need to turn the page and just make it good and be a positive for the team the rest of the season.

Matchup by All Habs staff
Bell Centre, Montreal, QC \| January 12, 7:00 PM ET \| TV: SN, TVAS, ALT
	2018-19 statistics
AVALANCHE	2018-19 statistics	CANADIENS
48 (16th)	Points (rank)	51 (14th)
20-16-8	Record	23-17-5
11-10-3	Away/Home	11-9-2
2-6-2	Last 10	6-4-0
3.43	GF/G	2.96
3.18	GA/G	3.09
25.9	PP%	12.8
75.5	PK%	78.4
49.65	CF%	54.25



Projected forward lines, defense pairings and goaltenders
Forwards
Landeskog – MacKinnon – Rantanen Jost – Kerfoot – Compher Nieto – Soderberg – Calvert Andrighetto – Dries – Wilson	Lehkonen – Domi – Armia Drouin – Danault – Gallagher Tatar – Kotkaniemi – Byron Agostino – Chaput – Deslauriers
Defensemen
Girard – Johnson Cole – Barrie Graves – Barberio	Mete – Weber Reilly – Petry Kulak – Benn
Out of the lineup
Scratched: Bourque Injured: Nemeth, Kamenev, Zadorov	Scratched: Hudon, Peca, Alzner Injured: Shaw
Goalies
Semyon Varlamov	Carey Price

Record: 11-9-5 GAA: – 2.85 Sv%: – .908 SO: 1 Alternate: Philipp Grubauer	Record: 16-13-4 GAA: – 2.75 Sv%: – .908 SO: 2 Alternate: Antti Niemi

What to Expect by Sam Gerber

This is a must win game for the Canadiens who have lost three of their last four. Due to the recent struggles the Habs now sit out of a playoff spot and need to win consecutive games to get back in. The Avalanche have lost eight in their last nine games and are on a big Canadian road trip. They Avs should be rested and ready for their Saturday night match in Montreal. The Habs themselves have to be ready at puck drop as well as a few more losses this month could put the playoffs out of reach.

Highlights from the NHL

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2018-19 statistics