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

Sam Gerber

December 27, 2017

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

Game Preview by Sam Gerber

Last game: MTL 1 EDM 4

The Canadiens were unable to comeback after a bad first period that saw them down by two goals. Perimeter shots once again held the Habs to limited scoring chances. But four points out of six for the Habs on the Western road trip was a positive going into the Christmas break.

For a complete recap: Canadiens – Oilers: Over As Soon As It Started

Players to watch

Noah Hanafin
Hanifin is in his 3^rd season in the NHL and should easily beat his previous season points productions. He is a big, puck moving defenseman who can skate, the ideal partner for Shea Weber.
Jeff Skinner
Skinner is a highly talented winger that isn’t as noticed as much around the league because he plays in a smaller market. The Habs will keep an eye when he’s on the ice.
Sebastien Aho
Aho is one of the Hurricanes youngest players but is also one of the most talented. Aho plays on the first line and is very talented on the power-play.

Keys to Victory

Maintain high energy
After a couple days off, one team always look a little sluggish against the other. The Habs need to come out fast and make the Hurricanes look like the sluggish ones.
Feed off the crowd
Over the next few games the Habs will see tons of Habs fans in the crowd making noise. Habs need to feed off them and give them something to cheer about.
Play desperate hockey
The Habs will need to be an above .650 level team for the rest of the season to make the playoffs and will need to play some desperate hockey for that to happen.

Matchup by All Habs staff
PNC Arena, Raleigh, NC \| December 27, 7:00 PM ET \| TV: TSN2, RDS, FS-CR
	2017-18 statistics
HURRICANES	2017-18 statistics	CANADIENS
39 (18th)	Points (rank)	36 (25th)
16-12-7	Record	16-16-4
9-7-3	Home/Away	8-8-4
5-3-2	Last 10	5-4-1
2.74	GF/G	2.69
3.03	GA/G	3.14
15.5	PP%	18.9
77.1	PK%	77.1
54.35	CF%	51.14


Projected forward lines, defense pairings and goaltenders
Forwards
Aho – Staal – Teravainen Skinner -Rask – Lindholm McGinn – Ryan – Williams Nordstrom – Kruger – Di Giuseppe	Pacioretty – Drouin – Byron Galchenyuk – Danault – Shaw Lehkonen – Plekanec – Gallagher Deslauriers – Froese – Carr
Defensemen
Slavin – Pesce Dahlbeck – Faulk Hanifin – van Riemsdyk	Alzner – Petry Benn – Jerabek Morrow – Lernout
Out of the lineup
Scratched: Jooris, Fleury Injured: Stempniak	Scratched: De La Rose, Hudon Injured: Weber, Hemsky, Montoya, Schlemko
Goalies
Cam Ward	Carey Price

Record: 8-2-1 GAA: 2.79 Sv%: .911 SO: 1 Alternate: Scott Darling	Record: 11-10-2 GAA: 3.04 Sv%: .904 SO: 1 Alternate: Antti Niemi

What to Expect

The Habs d-core will be missing multiple players to start off the road trip. Petry will need to continue to elevate his game while the others need to step up. Both teams may come out of the break a little slow which will make for an eventful first period.

Prediction: Canadiens 3 Hurricanes 2

Which ever team gets their legs first should be able to take the game over.

Highlights from the NHL

Quick Links from Rocket Sports Media publications
	[wp_rss_multi_importer category=”3″ thisfeed=”8″ showdate=”0″]


	[wp_rss_multi_importer category=”6″ showdate=”0″]

Tickets


Get Habs Tickets
Need tickets for an upcoming Canadiens game? Click the following link for the best prices on available tickets: Montreal Canadiens Tickets

Follow @AllHabs on Twitter

2017-18 statistics