THE Montreal Canadiens are in Denver today to face the Colorado Avalancheone of the hottest teams in the league. Nathan MacKinnon currently leads the scoring race with 39 points in just 23 games, while teammates Martin Necas (30 points) and Artturi Lehkonen (21 points) are also flying high. As always, Cale Makar leads all defenders with 30 points, seven points ahead of his closest pursuer, Josh Morrissey.
After giving way to Samuel Montembeault for Friday afternoon’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights, Jakub Dobes will be back in the Habs net this afternoon. The Czech rookie has faced the Colorado Avalanche once in his young career, his second game this past January. The goalie was named the first star of the game after leading the Habs to a 2-1 shootout victory, stopping 22 of the 23 shots he faced in regulation and both shots he faced in the shootout, finishing the night with a .957 save percentage. This is the kind of game that Sainte-Flanelle will need from Saturday afternoon.
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The offense will also have its work cut out for it, as the Avalanche will have some of the best goaltending in the league this season. The tandem formed by Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood is firing on all cylinders. The former has a .918 SV while the latter has an impressive .928 SV.
In fact, Wedgewood is doing so well that he has been mentioned as a goaltending possibility for Team Canada at the Olympics. The national team needs to think outside the box, given that Adin Hill is injured and Montembeault and Jordan Binnington are struggling this season.
However, Wedgewood, who played most of the Avalanche’s game this season, only faced the Habs once and came away on the losing end of the matchup with a 4.45 GAA and .778 SV. This could have been encouraging news for the Canadiens, but Blackwood’s record against the Habs is almost flawless. He is 5-0-2 against Sainte-Flanelle and has a 2.47 GAA and .922 SV. Since Wedgewood was in net Friday against the Minnesota Wildexpect Blackwood to be at the crease on Saturday.
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The Avalanche are 6-3-1 in the last 10 meetings between the two teams, and they won the last one, a 5-4 shootout victory last March when Montembeault was in net, allowing four goals on 37 shots. Colorado was on a ten-game winning streak until losing 3-2 in a shootout to the Wild on Friday night.
The Canadiens will have to keep a close eye on rushing leader Nathan MacKinnon, with the center totaling seven goals and 10 assists for 17 points in 19 games against the Habs. As for former Canadiens player Lehkonen, he has five points in as many games against his former team, while defenseman Makar has 10 points in just nine duels with Sainte-Flanelle.
Up front for the Canadian, Cole Caufield will look to extend his point streak to at least 7; he has two goals and five assists in the last six games. The sharpshooter has just four points in six games against the hosts on Saturday afternoon, and now would be a good time to increase that production. As for Zachary Bolduc, who has five points in the last two games, he has scored three goals in five duels with the Avs and will be eager to continue his point streak. Meanwhile, captain Nick Suzuki has nine points in as many games against Colorado.
Puck drop is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. and you can watch the game on ALT, TSN2, RDS.
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After the duel, Montreal will return home and take advantage of a well-deserved day off on Sunday before getting back to work in Brossard with training scheduled for Monday at 10:30 a.m. in preparation for the duel with the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Center Tuesday evening.
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