After ending their losing streak at five games against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night, the Montreal Canadiens will be taking on the Utah Mammoth on Wednesday night at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. The team arrived on Monday and had time to settle in before practising on Tuesday morning. Thankfully, no one was hit by a car this year, unlike former Hab Emil Heineman last season.
Martin St-Louis has already confirmed that Jakub Dobes, who had a .920 save percentage against the Leafs, will be in net for the game, despite Samuel Montembeault beating the Mammoth a little over two weeks ago at the Bell Centre. He has made 23 stops on 25 shots, but given how the goaltenders have performed so far this season, it makes sense to go with the netminder who made you win the last game. Dobes has never faced the hosts, while Montembeault has a 2-0-1 record against them with a 2.60 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage.
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The identity of the Mammoth goaltender has yet to be announced, but Karel Vejmelka has seen most of the action for Andre Tourigny’s team this season. The netminder has a 3-2-1 record in six duels with the Habs, a 3.47 GAA and a .864 SV against Montreal. As for backup Vitek Vanecek, he’s got a 3-1-1 record, with a 2.80 GAA and a .888 SV.
Wednesday evening’s game will be the fourth meeting between the two sides, and the Canadiens have won the last two by scores of 6-2 and 5-3. Utah won the first game ever between the two sides 3-2 in overtime. The Canadiens will need to make the most of their power-play opportunities to get a win, but that will be a tall order. Utah has the sixth-best penalty kill in the league with an 84.1% success rate, but since the start of November, it has killed 96% of power plays.
Cole Caufield is the Canadiens’ top scorer against the Mammoth with five points in three games, and he was also doing pretty well against the Arizona Coyotes before the franchise was moved, with four points in six games. Four players have three points in as many games against Utah: Alexandre Carrier (one assist in seven games against Arizona), Noal Dobson (four assists against the Coyotes), Lane Hutson and Mike Matheson (one goal in 11 games against the Coyotes).
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Meanwhile, Clayton Keller is the Mammoth’s most productive player against the Canadiens with 17 points in 14 games, Nick Schmaltz is second with 15 points in 14 games, and Olli Maatta wraps up the top three with 14 points in 28 games.
As is always the case when the two teams are playing, we’ll be keeping an eye on the first and third pick of the 2022 NHL draft: Juraj Slafkovsky and Logan Cooley. The power forward has a single point in three duels with Utah, while the center has three points in five games against Montreal. Both teams have had issues of late with 3-4-3 records in their last 10 games; the Canadiens have won their previous match, while the Mammoth are now on a modest two-game winning streak.
The game is scheduled for 9:30 PM ET, and you can catch it on UTAH 16, TSN 2 and RDS. The Canadiens will hold an optional skate at 11:00 MST and hold media availabilities then.
Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.
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