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He's baaack! Price returns as the Habs take on the Coyotes & 5 Q's |
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The Montreal Canadiens have taken five out of a possible six points to begin the NHL season thanks to the strong play of goaltender Al Montoya who has held the fort in Carey Price’s absence. Tonight though, Price will reclaim his crease as the Canadiens take the Arizona Coyotes at the Bell Centre in what will be his first NHL regular season game since November 25th, 2015. To say that Montoya played admirably in Price’s absence would be an understatement. He was their most valuable player through the first three games of the season and the main reason for the Canadiens success as he kept the team in games and did not give up soft goals that would have demoralized the team.
Expectations for the Canadiens will be even higher with a healthy Price in net. The club has been scoring but there has still been areas of weakness in their game. They have struggled at time with transition and Price’s puck handling abilities will be a welcome addition as he will aid his defencemen in recovering pucks and getting the play started.
There are no other lineup changes for the Canadiens and so Mikhaïl Sergachev and Brian Flynn will dress for their second consecutive game while Daniel Carr and Greg Pateryn continue to sit. Flynn was brought in to aid with faceoffs but he only had a 40% success rate against the Pittsburgh Penguins Tuesday night. Daniel Carr brings extra net presence to the game and had shown chemistry with Andrew Shaw on the third line. I would rather than Phillip Danault sit than Carr, not that he has been bad but he has not stood out either. Sergachev will have another opportunity to prove that he belongs to stay in the NHL and hopefully the Canadiens will stay out of the penalty box so that gets more ice time this evening. I would not be surprised if this is his best game yet as gets accustomed to the NHL and gains more confidence.
Mike Smith of the Arizona Coyotes is injured and so Louis Domingue will get the hometown start in front of family and friends. The forward lines will be:
The Coyotes 2016 first round draft pick Jakob Chychrun will be a healthy scratch for the second game in a row. At this time last year, many experts had Chychrun ranked as the second best prospect behind Auston Matthews and the top defenceman of the draft. By the time draft day arrived he fell down into the Coyotes laps 16th overall. He was still considered to be a top ten pick and along with Canadiens pick Mikhail Sergachev to be the most physically ready of all defensive prospects. If the Coyotes had stronger depth on the defensive end that it is very likely that Chychrun would already be back in the OHL this season. However, he may just stay the full NHL season due to their lack of other options. I cannot imagine though that he will stay much longer if he is unable to crack the top six.
5 questions for tonight’s game:
1) What are your expectations for Carey Price tonight? I'll say he allows two goals or less as he might be a little shaky or weak still.
2) Will Jeff Petry continue his point streak? He has four points through two games. I believe he does, likely on the power play.
3) Is tonight the night that Shea Weber scores his first goal in a Canadiens uniform?
4) Opposing hometown goalies have a history of performing well at the Bell Centre. How will Domingue do?
5) What will be the outcome of the game? I'm going with 5-2 Canadiens.
Cheers & follow along!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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