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Jordan vs Jake | PREVIEW: STL @ MTL

Sam Gerber

GAME DAY PREVIEW | Montreal Canadiens vs St Louis Blues: Preview, TV, Start Time, Statistical Match-up, Projected Lines, Starting Goalies, Keys to Victory, Habs Tickets

Game Preview 

A Look Back

The homecoming after a long road trip was short lived as the Habs found themselves down three goals after the second period. It was another game where the Habs offense seemed to be missing something. Joel Armia scored his first goal of the season. Hopefully this sparks the veteran forward. Allen only gave up three goals but was by far the busier goalie once again.

Last game: MTL 1  NYR 4  F

For a complete game recap: The Slide Continues | RECAP: NYR @ MTL

Players to Watch

  • Nick Suzuki
    2023 All-Star Nick Suzuki hasn’t been filling the stat sheet of late. Teams have been loading up against the Habs first line knowing the rest of the team struggles to score. This is something Suzuki will need to be used to in his career and overcome as the Habs need him to be a consistent scoring threat.
  • Joel Edmundson
    The injury to Kaiden Guhle has already hurt the Habs, but now that he will be out at least eight weeks, the Habs defense will need to step up. Edmundson has had an okay season and is in the trade rumour mill. If Edmundson can be the true veteran leader he is and step up while his team needs him the Habs will be able to manage without Guhle for a couple months.
  • Kirby Dach
    With such a strong start to the season Dach has leveled out, fans can often remember this happening with several former players that failed to show consistency. None of those players stayed with the Habs a long time and it makes you wonder about the Habs plans for Dach if you can’t finish the season strong.

Keys to Victory

  • Score First
    The Habs desperately need a win and scoring first will go a long way to getting that win. A strong early push putting everything on net should be exactly the game plan.
  • Shoot the puck
    It was another game where the Habs failed to generate a lot of offense. While the Habs coaching staff isn’t worried it’s hard to watch a team not put up 20 shots a night,  the Habs focus should be to become more offence and that can only happen if they start getting pucks on net.
  • Win special teams
    Consistently losing the special teams matchup is a big part of the Habs currently seven game losing streak. If the Habs can start winning this battle it should hopefully put an end to that streak.
Statistical Matchup for Game 40
Bell Centre, Montreal, QC | January 7, 7:00 PM ET | TV: SNE, CITY, TVAS, ESPN+, BSMW

2022-23  statistics
BLUES CANADIENS
41 (20th) Points (rank) 33 (27th)
19-17-3 Record 15-21-3
W2 Streak L6
6-2-2 Last 10 1-8-1
3.13 (19th) GF/G (rank) 2.56 (30th)
3.64 (25th) GA/G (rank) 3.80 (29th)
23.9 (11th) PP% (rank) 14.8 (32nd)
71.6 (30th) PK% (rank) 73.8 (23rd)
49.8  Faceoff % 49.9
Pre-game Quotes
Marty St. Louis on Habs 7-game losing streak
  • “You don’t just have to focus on where you are and why you got there. You also have to think about what you have to do to get out of it.”
Projected Forwards, Defense and Goaltenders (subject to change)
Forwards
Buchnevich – Thomas – Kyrou
Saad – Schenn – Barbashev
Neighbours – Acciari – Leivo
Toropchenko – Alexandrov – Pitlick		 Caufield – Suzuki – Dach
Slafkovsky – Dvorak – Anderson
Dadonov – Evans – Armia
Pezzetta – Drouin – Richard
Defensemen
Mikkola – Parayko
Rosen – Faulk
Santini – Bortuzzo		 Edmundson – Savard
Harris – Kovacevic
Xhekaj – Wideman
Out of the lineup
Scratched: Brown, Walker
Injured: Leddy		 Scratched: Barron, Hoffman
Injured: Byron (hip), Price (knee), Monahan (lower-body), Matheson (lower-body), Guhle (lower-body), Gallagher (lower-body)
Goalies
Jordan Binnington Jake Allen
Record: 15-12-3
GAA: 3.21
Sv%: .894
SO: 2
Alternate: Thomas Greiss		 Record: 9-16-1
GAA: 3.50
Sv%: .894
SO: 0
Alternate: Sam Montembeault
 Game Expectations
Jake Allen will get the start against his former team and while the Habs desperately need a win the Habs should be a lot more motivated to play for their goalie who really would want to beat his former team. The Habs are once again injured but the core remains in tack, the core of the Blues recently took a hit with Ryan O’Reilly and Vladamir Tarsenko both going down with injuries. The Blues are still a strong team without them as they will have their hands full with Jordan Kyrou but this is a game that the Habs should take advantage of matchups and be able to win.

Bottom Line

The losing streak has to come to an end at some point and what could be better than a Saturday night game in Montreal against an injured team.
 Video Highlights

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