Game Day: Avalanche vs Canadiens – Preview, Lines, Goalies, TV, Fantasy

• Matt Duchene on the Avalanche’s Win over Boston Thursday night: “It’s hard to be confident in those times with what we have gone through this year, we’re fighting through it and showing good character. We just had a great team effort today.”
• Brad Stuart returned home to nurse an ailing back on Thursday and John Mitchell returned to the lineup Thursday night after missing 4 games with an oblique injury.
• Max Pacioretty on Mike Condon‘s performance versus the Penguins on Wednesday: “He was great. He gave us a chance, and it’s frustrating because we wanted to make him look as good as he continues to make us look. We wish we could have gotten the two points for him because he played another outstanding game tonight,”
• Gabriel Landeskog will not play in tonight’s game as he will begin to serve his two game suspension for an illegal hit to the head of Brad Marchand.
• The Canadiens have scored a powerplay goal in seven consecutive games.
• Although the Canadiens are no longer undefeated on the season, they still have not lost on home ice this year (sporting a 7-0-1 record at home).
• The Canadiens are in a tied with Los Angeles for third in the league in goals against with 33 in 17 games. The Avalanche’s defensive woes have continued this season as they currently have had 44 goals scored against them in their first 16 games.
• With a 6 goal performance versus the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday, the Dallas Stars pulled into a tie for the Canadiens for the most goals scored this season with 62 (both in 17 games). The Avalanche are riding much closer to the middle of the pack, in 16th place, with a total goals for of 43 over their first 16 games in the 2015-16 season.

2015-16 statistics

• Matt Duchene has been on fire of late and has 9 points (6 goals) over his last 6 games and has 24 shots over that span (he has 43 total this season). While he has struggled to start the season, I’m afraid your chance to buy low on this speedster is up. While enduring some peaks and valleys in terms of production over his career, it seems that Duchene has finally found his niche. Facing the rookie phenom, Mike Condon, is obviously not the best matchup for Duchene, but whatever offense the Aves produce will most likely run through Duchene (especially since Gabriel Landeskog isn’t playing). It would have to be a very shallow league for me to recommend against starting Duchene tonight.
• Although he may be already picked up in your fantasy league, Tomas Plekanec has had a great start to the year. He already has 16 points in 17 games and is currently riding a 3 game point streak (2 goals and 2 assists over that span). Plekanec has never been a player who will score a ton of points throughout the season, but he is almost guarantee to get at least 50 while playing on the top line with Max Pacioretty and Brendan Gallagher. Not to mention that he also contributes in a variety of categories; ie. he is averaging over 19 minutes of ice time per game, is a +9, has 36 shots on net, 196 faceoff wins and has put up 6 powerplay points. When you set your roster for tonight, be sure to include Tomas Plekanec.
• Quick note: Over his career, Andrei Markov has averaged over a point per game versus the Avalanche (12 points in 11 games). He is must start in all formats, but he is a sneaky good pick in daily leagues also.
• Top scorers for the Avalanche on the road this season are:

1. Matt Duchene (7 points in 8 games)
2. Nathan MacKinnon and Carl Soderberg (both with 6 points in 8 games)
3. Jarome Iginla (5 points in 8 games)

• Top scorers for the Canadiens at home this season are:

1. David Desharnais (9 points in 8 games)
2. Brendan Gallagher (8 points in 8 games)
3. Tomas Fleischmann and Tomas Plekanec (7 points in 8 games)

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