If someone had said before the season started that the Montreal Canadiens would only be three points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning at the end of January, I’m not sure the most optimistic fans in the Tricolore would have believed it, and yet here we are.
Right now, the Bolts are just one point ahead of the Ottawa Senators and the second wild card. Sure, Tampa has a few games in hand, but it’s not a given that they’ll win those games.
Related: Canadiens: Bounce right back, and come back again
So far, Montreal and Tampa Bay have only faced each other once this season, it was during the Canadiens’ most productive road trip of the season and the Habs signed a 5-2 victory with Samuel Montembeault in front of the net, the day after Jakub Dobes’ victory. made his NHL debut in a shutout victory over the defending Stanley Cup champions.
Since then, Dobes has won four more matches and lost none, with the predictable result of fans clamoring for the youngster to see more action. One thing that can be said of the current leaders of the Habs is that they do not rush, they do not take shortcuts. I don’t see them throwing Dobes in the deep end and telling him to sink or swim. He’ll get his fair share of starts, but he won’t steal Montembeault’s number one chair yet, nor should he.
Montreal had a day off yesterday, so there’s no indication yet as to who will be manning the net today, but I would expect Montembeault to be back since Dobes hasn’t really had a dominant outing against the Rangers (although he made a few key saves in overtime). Montembeault is 2-2-1, with a 3.14 goals-against average and a .898 save percentage.
Related: Canadiens: Three Years Later
As for Tampa, Andrei Vasilevsky has a fantastic record against the Canadiens, he is 15-2-2 with a 1.98 GAA and a .935 SP. As for replacement Jonas Johansson who was on duty during the last duel between the two teams, he has a record of 2-2-0 with a GAA of 4.67 and an SP of .837. Since Johansson was on duty last night, It wouldn’t really be a surprise if Vasilevsky got the nod.
Brendan Gallagher is the Canadiens’ most productive player against Tampa Bay with 17 points in 35 games, followed closely by Nick Suzuki who has 12 points in 16 games and Patrik Laine who has 11 in 18 games. On the other side, Victor Hedman leads the way with 49 points in as many games, closely followed by Nikita Kucherov with 43 in 37 games, Brayden Point completes the top 3 with 23 points in 27 games.
The Lightning have won seven of the last 10 games between the two teams, but the Canadiens were victorious last time out. The game is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and is the last before Montreal hits the road for a one-game trip to Detroit.
Stay up to date with the most interesting Montreal Canadiens stories, analysis, latest news and more! Press the star to add us to your favorites on Google News so you never miss a story.
Follow Karine on @KarineHains Blue sky @karinehains.bsky.social and son @karinehains
Bookmark The Canadiens Hockey News page for all the news and events around the Canadian
