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

Sam Gerber

December 20, 2018

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

Game Preview by Sam Gerber

Last game : MTL 1 COL 2 The Habs played a decent road game, but unfortunately couldn’t get the win. The Habs got an early lead on a rare power-play goal. However, the power-play the rest of the night was being sub-par. With the game tied going into the third the Avalanches got an early goal where Jonathan Drouin let his man go twice and then he bumped Price on the play. The Canadiens tried to comeback but had no A-level chances in the third which allowed Philipp Grubauer to have a comfortable night.

For a complete game recap: Habs Searching for Offence

Players to watch

Brendan Gallagher
Gallagher was the only goal scorer for his club last game. While he played with a little more determination then the game before, Gallagher and his linemates did very little to create scoring chances. He needs to do more.
Max Domi
Domi had another quiet game offensively, made poor decisions on the power-play and was not active in the defensive zone. Going up against his former club should give him extra motivation to get out of his slump.
Jordie Benn
Benn will be partnered with Shea Weber again. Teams have chosen to attack his side of the ice and exploit the fact that Benn is not a good skater.

Keys to Victory

Create scoring chances
The Canadiens cannot be satisfied with taking a high volume of low quality shots. They must do a much better job of creating quality scoring chances.
Use the depth
Montreal has more depth in their lineup than the Coyotes and they need to take advantage of it.
Be defensively sound
The Habs defense has to be much better than they have shown recently.

Matchup by All Habs staff
Gila River Arena, Glendale, AZ \| December 20, 9:00 PM ET \| TV: TSN2, RDS, FS-A
	2018-19 statistics
COYOTES	2018-19 statistics	CANADIENS
30 (28th)	Points (rank)	39 (15th)
14-17-2	Record	17-13-5
6-9-1	Home/Away	7-6-3
4-6-0	Last 10	6-4-0
2.45	GF/G	3.06
2.79	GA/G	3.23
16.2	PP%	12.4
89.0	PK%	77.2
50.05	CF%	54.44



Projected forward lines, defense pairings and goaltenders
Forwards
Keller – Schmaltz – Garland Galchenyuk – Stepan – Fischer Panik – Richardson – Archibald Crouse – Cousins – Kempe	Drouin – Domi – Shaw Tatar – Danault – Gallagher Byron – Kotkaniemi – Lehkonen Agostino – Chaput – Hudon
Defensemen
Ekman-Larsson – Connauton Chychrun – Hjalmarsson Goligoski – Lyubushkin	Benn – Weber Reilly – Petry Schlemko – Mete
Out of the lineup
Scratched: Oesterle, Hill Injured: Dvorak, Demers, Hinostroza, Grabner, Raanta	Scratched: Peca, Deslauriers, Kulak Injured: Armia
Goalies
Darcy Kuemper	Carey Price

Record: 4-8-2 GAA: – 2.87 Sv%: – .909 SO: 0 Alternate: Calvin Pickard	Record: 13-10-4 GAA: – 2.91 Sv%: – .902 SO: 1 Alternate: Antti Niemi

What to Expect by Sam Gerber

Two players traded for each other, Alex Galchenyuk and Max Domi, meet for the first time since the transaction. The Habs know that there’s more to the game and will have to stay focused but Domi and Galchenyuk will be the story all night. The Canadiens have to start strong. They let points get away from them last night and need to use that as motivation early. Another loss and the Habs are in for a long road trip.

Highlights from the NHL

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2018-19 statistics