Canadiens Biggest Challenge Tonight Against Schwartz and the Blues (pacioretty)

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Canadiens Biggest Challenge Tonight Against Schwartz and the Blues

By Brandon Smillie

Dec 5, 2017 • 8:40 am

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Tonight is a huge test for this resurgent Montreal Canadiens club as they welcome the 5th overall St. Louis Blues to the Bell Centre tonight.

This won’t be an easy test though for Montreal despite the Blues coming in having lost 3 in a row (0-2-1) and 4 of their last 5 (1-3-1). St. Louis will be hungry to get back on track with the Winnipeg Jets and Nashville Predators leap frogging them the last couple games and pushing them down to 3rd in the Central Division.

St. Louis will be led by Point Per Game players: J Schwartz, B Schenn, and V Tarasenko. The last name as a PPG player is understandable, but these are a couple of break out seasons for Schwartz and Schenn. I’ve never been that enamored with Schenn’s potential, even when he was young, and I was right to think that until this season. Schenn has been able to play (typically) with two incredible wingers and is reaping the benefits.

But Schenn still has work to do on his face-offs (46.7%) and it remains to be seen if he can keep up this level of production all season. Right now he has the top CF% (57.9) and second highest FF% (58.7) on the team. His PDO is also at a level that’s simply astounding at 106.8, just behind team leader Tarasenko’s 107.0 and just ahead of teammate Schwartz 106.7.

This should mean that regression is coming and when it does it will hit these three hard. It’s difficult to argue that Tarasenko will stop producing well so he’s likely able to help prop up his line mates a bit, but PPG pace for Schenn and Schwartz is unlikely to remain all season. However, if this is just one of those seasons where everything works then its possible they will sniff PPG status for 17-18, I just wouldn’t bank on it long term.

The Blues are also anchored by current Norris front runner A Pietrangelo who’s having a career year so far with 7 G and 13 A in 27 games while playing 25:53 a game, on average. His PDO is at a “lucky… 102.8 but I would be more inclined to believe that he’s playing right as he should and that there won’t be much regression in his play. Add to all this the solid play of likely starter J Allen and this is Montreal’s biggest test at this all important point of the season.

Allen currently holds a record of 13-6-2 with a .907 SP% and 2.73 GAA and gives his team a chance to win. This game will be a test of Montreal’s ability to contain some dynamic Forwards while also getting chances against one of this seasons best D men.

This is a big one.

Montreal enters having won 5 in a row while outscoring opponents 24-6 (14-5 if you take out the Detroit massacre). Players taking the reigns during this streak and guiding the team have been Gallagher (4G 1A), Galchenyuk (2G 6A), Byron (4G 2A) and Petry (1G 3A).

This kind of production couldn’t have come at a better time with Drouin and Weber both missing time from injuries. With Weber seemingly back for good and Drouin nearing return we could be close to seeing the version of this seasons Canadiens squad M Bergevin envisioned in the preseason. D men getting healthy, Forwards starting to gel, and Price being himself (and then some) could help these Canadiens move past a dreadful October and half of November and focus on a whole lot of positives moving forward.

All of this wouldn’t be without the return to All World status of Carey Price of course. I beat that drum all season so far that if the Habs had .910+ SP% goaltending then the stats say they should do much better. Beyond stats, I believed that having stability and support in the crease that Price is capable of would permeate through out the roster and likely provide not only a calming effect during play, but boost confidence too when the team plays well.

I think we are seeing this in full effect right now time ten. The Canadiens are playing good hockey but Price has only allowed 6 goals in 5 games. It’s absurd. The Habs must continue to capitalize on this momentum Price has injected into the team that we saw in their last 2 games against Detroit.

Foot on the gas, no letting up, never give up.

Let’s see if the trend continues tonight.

*No lineup info released via the Canadiens official Twitter so I don’t have any info on that at time of submitting this blog. I will update it accordingly when I see it, if I can*

Go Habs Go!

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