Canadiens Lineup

Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Kirby Dach

Evgenii Dadonov – Christian Dvorak – Brendan Gallagher

Joel Armia – Sean Monahan – Josh Anderson

Michael Pezzetta – Jake Evans – Juraj Slafkovsky

Mike Matheson – David Savard

Joel Edmundson – Kaiden Guhle

Arber Xhekaj – Johnathan Kovacevic

Sam Montembeault – Jake Allen

Chris Wideman, Jordan Harris

Carey Price (knee), Paul Byron (hip), Mike Hoffman (upper-body), Jonathan Drouin (upper-body)

Game Report

This type of game is known as a low-event contest. In other words, it was a snooze-fest. But for the Montreal Canadiens who were trailing early in the last two matches, boring is good!

The cannon was quiet in Columbus as there was no scoring for the first 40 minutes.

It was not a challenging night for either goaltender as the game was played well away from the scoring areas. The Canadiens generated just three high-danger scoring chances for the entire game. The Blue Jackets tested Sam Montembeault in the middle period, but the Canadiens backup faced just one high-danger scoring chance in the first and third periods combined.

With Montreal’s goaltending struggling of late, limiting opposition chances was exactly the recipe for the style of game needed to help Montembeault’s confidence. The Canadiens had allowed at least four goals in each of their previous five games.

It was the first time Montreal limited the opposition to one goal this season.

Marty St. Louis continues to tinker with defensive pairs. For the first time this season, he broke up the successful pairing of Kaiden Guhle with David Savard. This follows the dismantling of the Habs second best duo of Jordan Harris with Johnathan Kovacevic.

Up Next

The Canadiens will continue their short two-game road trip in Chicago with a Black Friday matinee against the Blackhawks.

Be sure to watch for our Game Day Preview on Friday afternoon.

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