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

By
Sam Gerber
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Game Preview by Sam Gerber
Last game: MTL 3  PIT 5  

The Penguins opened the scoring on a goal that appeared to be obvious goalie interference to most Habs fans. The Canadiens battled back and Carey Price made numerous spectacular saves. Then Sidney Crosby scored one of the best goals of his career and the Habs were sunk.

For a complete recap: Pens Depth Sinks Habs

Players to watch

  • Jeff Petry
    Petry has played well most of the season but it looks like the extra minutes are catching up to him. Playing above his normal second pairing slot has resulted in numerous errors in his own end. 
  • Nicolas Deslauriers
    Deslauriers returns to Buffalo for the first time since the trade that brought him to Montreal. It was a move that worked out very well for both teams with Zach Redmond bringing offense and leadership to the Rochester Americans.
  • Ryan O’Reilly
    O’Reilly is matchup nightmare for the Habs. He is one of the best two-way centers in the league and can be dominant at the faceoff dot.

Keys to Victory

  • Box out forwards
    The Canadiens have failed all season to front opposing forwards. That was particularly evident against the Penguins. They must do a better job tonight. 
  • Take advantage of weak PP
    The Sabres have the 26th ranked power-play in the league. Could this be the game for the Canadiens beleaguered penalty-kill to step up?
  • Crash the net
    The Sabres can be easily distracted from their game by taking bad penalties.
Matchup by All Habs staff
KeyBank Centre, Buffalo, NY | March 23, 7:00 PM ET | TV: TSN2, RDS, MSG-B

2017-18 statistics
SABRES CANADIENS
58 (31st) Points (rank) 64 (27th)
23-38-12 Record 26-36-12
11-22-5 Home/Away 9-24-4
4-5-1 Last 10 1-7-2
2.36 GF/G 2.47
3.26 GA/G 3.12
17.0 PP% 20.3
78.6 PK% 74.7
 47.13  CF%  50.42
eSAT Analytics by Mathieu Chagnon
 
Projected forward lines, defense pairings and goaltenders
Forwards
Wilson – O’Reilly – Reinhart
Girgensons – Eichel – Pominville
Pouliot – Rodrigues – Baptiste
 Nolan – Larsson – Okposo		 Byron – Drouin – Gallagher
Galchenyuk – De La Rose – Lehkonen
Scherbak – L. Shaw – Hudon
Deslauriers – Froese – Carr
Defensemen
Scandella – Ristolainen
Guhle – Nelson
Gorges – Antipin		 Reilly – Petry
Alzner – Juulsen
Benn – Lernout
Out of the lineup
Scratched: Bailey, Falk
Injured: Beaulieu, Johnson, Josefson, Criscuolo, McCabe, Bogosian
 Scratched: McCarron
Injured: Weber, Hemsky, Pacioretty, Mete, Schlemko, Valiev, Danault, A. Shaw
Goalies
Linus Ullmark Antti Niemi
Record: 1-1-0
GAA: 2.38
Sv%: .933
SO: 0
Alternate: Robin Lehner		 Record: 5-8-4
GAA: 3.19
Sv%: .910
SO: 0
Alternate: Carey Price
 What to Expect by Sam Gerber
Prediction: Canadiens 4  Sabres 2 

Both the Habs and Sabres have missing pieces which will make for a game with plenty of offense. The Canadiens line of Jacob De La Rose, Artturi Lehkonen and Alex Galchenyuk have been playing great since they were brought together. If they are up to the challenge, the Habs should come away with the win.
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