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

Sam Gerber

6 years ago

Game Preview by Sam Gerber

Last game : MTL 0 BOS 4 The Habs embarrassed themselves once again. Carey Price was the only player who showed up to play. The Habs fought the puck all night and could barely make a clean pass. The Bruins took advantage and easily had their way all night. This was a hard game to watch, and something that can’t happen again..

For a complete game recap: Habs Collapse in Front of Price

Players to watch

Victor Mete
Mete will play on the second pairing after his recall from Laval. He brings speed to the backend that was missing badly last game.
Max Domi
Domi has been quiet offensively recently. But more concerning is his total lack of effort without the puck along with his linemate Jonathan Drouin.
Carey Price
Price was not pleased with how his team played last game, and voiced it afterwards. It has been hard having the world’s best goalie in the prime of his career with a B-level team in front of him

Keys to Victory

Limit giveaways
The Habs had way too many turnovers last game and have to do a much better job with the puck in their own end.
Contain the top line
The Avalanche have the best line in hockey and the Canadiens have to do their best to contain it.
Shoot on the power-play
The Montreal power-play has hit rock bottom. As Price said get the puck to the net and jam it in. It doesn’t have to be pretty..

Matchup by All Habs staff
Pepsi Center, Denver, CO \| December 19, 8:30 PM ET \| TV: SN, SN360, RDS, ALT
	2018-19 statistics
AVALANCHE	2018-19 statistics	CANADIENS
42 (10th)	Points (rank)	39 (14th)
18-10-6	Record	17-12-5
7-4-3	Home/Away	7-5-3
4-4-2	Last 10	6-4-0
3.59	GF/G	3.12
3.09	GA/G	3.26
29.4	PP%	12.0
77.2	PK%	76.4
49.25	CF%	54.16



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

Record: 13-9-4 GAA: – 2.94 Sv%: – .901 SO: 1 Alternate: Semyon Varlamov	Record: 13-9-4 GAA: – 2.94 Sv%: – .901 SO: 1 Alternate: Antti Niemi

What to Expect by Sam Gerber

The Canadiens will try to regroup against the Avalanche, one of the best offensive teams in the league. Keeping the big MacKinnon line in check all night isn’t going to be easy. The Danault line will likely match-up against it all night with the Weber pairing on defense. The rest of the Habs have to step-up and provide the offense. The power-play really has to do something, teams know the Habs are struggling and attacking a lot more than usual. Considering how badly Montreal played against Boston, this could be a deciding game on how the rest of Habs season is going to go.

Highlights from the NHL

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2018-19 statistics