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Habs will attempt to get back against the Devils tonight. |
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When the Montreal Canadiens last played and defeated the New Jersey Devils 5-2 on December 9th, it was considered to be a statement win by the team. They had just returned home to the Bell Centre after a grueling five game road trip and lost Alex Galchenyuk, David Desharnais and Greg Pateryn to injuries. The team had already been struggling to score goals on the aforementioned road trip and expectations on how the team would fare without their leading scorer were quite low. A strong 5-2 victory had been just what the doctor had ordered as there was a sense that the Canadiens would battle and get through their injury woes, and that was before Andrei Markov and Andrew Shaw would get hurt later in the month.
As the Canadiens prepare to face the Devils once more, they are hoping that this time around will be a repeat of December’s match when they dominated New Jersey. The Canadiens have been struggling as of late and it dates back to before Galchenyuk and Shaw returned to the lineup. The grind of the middle of the NHL season has set in and players have been lacking energy the last ten days, especially when up against strong competition. Fortunately, the Canadiens banked quite a bit of points through October and November and remain first in the Atlantic division with 60 points, eight points of the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins. The Devils currently sit seventh in the ever competitive Metropolitan division with 47 points but are just three behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for the second wild card position.
The Canadiens though cannot afford to take the Devils lightly though as they are currently on a three game winning streak, the most recent being a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild. The same Wild team that the Canadiens lost by a score of 7-1 just one week ago.
The Devils lines should look like:
Michael Cammalleri-Travis Zajac-Kyle Palmieri
Taylor Hall-Adam Henrique-P.A. Parenteau
Pavel Zacha-Jacob Josefson-Beau Bennett
Miles Wood-Blake Coleman-Devante Smith-Pelly
Jon Merrill-Ben Lovejoy
Kyle Quincey-Damon Severson
Karl Stollery-Steven Santini
Corey Schneider
In turn, the Canadiens lines will be:
Pacioretty-Danault-Radulov
Lehkonen-Plekanec-Byron
Andrighetto-Galchenyuk-Shaw
De la Rose-Mitchell-Flynn
Emelin-Weber
Beaulieu-Petry
Barberio-Redmond/Johnston
Montoya
While the return of Galchenyuk and Shaw to the Canadiens lineup a week ago was highly anticipated, Head coach Michel Therrien admitted that perhaps the pressure and expectations for Galchenyuk to pick up where he left off were too great and possibly a little unfair. Immediately putting him on the point of the first powerplay unit was asking too much of Galchenyuk. While his first game back against the New York Rangers was strong for a return for injury, Galchenyuk has had a tough time in his other games with his timing in the offensive zone and coverage in his own end. The demotion to the third line is about giving Galchenyuk a better opportunity to succeed and regain his confidence and stride, without having to face the opponent’s top lines.
To no one’s surprise, Al Montoya will get the start on the road against the Devils while Carey Price will get the nod at home on Saturday night against the Buffalo Sabres. After going so long without a win, Montoya is now on a personal three game winning streak.
Nathan Beaulieu and Jeff Petry will be trying to recapture their early chemistry and they know that they both have to be better and focused at the task at hand. As of late the Canadiens have been able to win the games that they have been expected to, beating teams that are below them in the standings. Tonight's match will be an opportunity for the Canadiens to get back on track as they attempt to finish the final stretch before the All-Star break on a high.
Puck drops at 7pm.
Cheers and enjoy the game!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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