After pulling off a spectacular comeback win against the Carolina Hurricanes on New Year’s Day, the Montreal Canadiens held an optional skate on Friday, and they’ll be back in action on Saturday afternoon against the St. Louis Blues. It will be the last duel between the two teams this season after Jim Montgomery’s men won the first match 4-3 in Montreal in early December. Saturday’s hosts have won six of the last 10 confrontations between the two sides, but they are having a tough season.
The Blues are currently sixth in the Central division with 40 points, 10 points behind the Canadiens, even though St. Louis has played two more games. Still, they’ve not been doing too badly of late with a 5-4-1 record in their last 10 games, and they won their previous game against the Vegas Golden Knights, 4-3, when Brayden Schenn scored the game-winning goal with less than two minutes to go in the game.
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Joel Hoffer was on duty against the Knights on Friday night, meaning Jordan Binnington is likely to draw in tonight against the Habs. The Team Canada goaltender has a 4-4-0 record against the Tricolore with a 3.41 goals-against average and a .880 save percentage. As for Hoffer, he’s won his only game against the Habs and has a 3.00 GAA and a .909 SV against them.
Meanwhile, Samuel Montembeault, who was convincing in his first start back in the NHL on Tuesday, has a 2-2-0 record against the Blues with a 3.64 GAA and a .887 SV. As for Jakub Dobes, he has a 0-1-0 record, a 4.48 GAA, and a .783 SV. He was in the net for the 4-3 loss against Montgomery’s men in December and could only muster 14 saves on the 18 shots faced then. Finally, Jacob Fowler has never faced tonight’s hosts, but he’s still going to be in the net this afternoon.
Up front, the Canadiens will need to be wary of Brayden Schenn, the centerman, who has 31 points in 32 games against the Habs, including three points in the last duel. Defenseman Cam Fowler is the Blues’ second most productive player against Montreal with 18 points in 24 games, and Robert Thomas rounds up the top three. He may have only 14 points, but he earned them in just nine games.
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As for the Blues, they’ll need to keep a close eye on captain Nick Suzuki, the newly minted Olympian, who has 12 points in 11 games against the Missouri outfit, while sniper Cole Caufield, who Team USA once more snubbed, has 10 points in nine games. Brendan Gallagher remains the Habs’ most productive forward against the Blues, though, with 15 points in 19 games.
The game is set for 4:00 PM at the Enterprise Center, and you can catch it on FDSNMW, TSN2, and RDS. The Canadiens will try to win a third game in a row for the first time since November 22 to 28, when they beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Utah Mammoth, and the Knights. After the game, the Canadiens will immediately head to Texas, where they’ll face the Dallas Stars at 2:00 PM on Sunday.
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