The Montreal Canadiens will play the Washington Capitals at the Bell Centre tonight in what should be an exciting affair. The Capitals currently sit 2nd in the Metropolitan division with 35 points, just 2 behind the New York Rangers. They are riding in on a 5 game win streak and should be a formidable challenge for the Canadiens who are still leading the Atlantic division and are #1 overall in the NHL. This will be the first time this season that the teams will meet.
Alex Ovechkin almost always brings his ‘A’ game to to Montreal and there is no reason to think that won’t happen tonight. Ovechkin currently has 22 points in 22 games. The Canadiens will have to especially watch out for Evgeny Kuznetsov who has been outstanding so far this season. Kuznetsov has 26 points in 23 games and is easily on pace to destroy his last year’s totals of 37 points in 80 games. During the off-season, goaltender Braden Holtby signed a 5 year $30.5 million usd contract and so far he is proving his worth with 15 wins, a GAA of 1.95 and Save percentage of .926. In their other off-season moves, the Capitals acquired T.J. Oshie from the St. Louis Blues but so far his play has been somewhat average as he has 6 goals and 6 assists in 23 games. Forward Justin Williams on the other hand, who signed as an unrestricted free agent in July, has provided excellent value and results with 17 points in 23 games.
The Capitals lineup tonight will look like:
#Caps lines:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie
Johansson-Kuznetsov-Williams
Chimera-Beagle-Burakovaky
Laich-Latta-Wilson
— Joey Alfieri (@joeyalfieri) December 3, 2015Caps D pairings:
Niskanen-Alzner
Carlsson-Schmidt
Orlov-Chorney
— Joey Alfieri (@joeyalfieri) December 3, 2015As for the Canadiens, they know that they will be in tough tonight. They know they have to be ready to play from the moment the puck drops and cannot allow an early goal:
"We can't afford to get off to a slow start. They play complete games and we can't feel our way into it." - @PetryJ pic.twitter.com/dZ8gkHJXs0
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 3, 2015There will be no lineup changes for the Canadiens tonight which means that Emelin is still in as is Christian Thomas. The lines though will be the same as they way the Canadiens ended the game against Columbus on Tuesday night:
#Habs practice lines:
Pacioretty-Desharnais-Weise
Fleischmann-Plekanec-Byron
Eller-Galchenyuk-Andrighetto/Semin
DSP - Flynn - Thomas
Carr
— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) December 2, 2015I understood the need for changing things up during the Columbus game, however I am somewhat doubtful about the Canadiens chances of success with these lines tonight against the Capitals. Pacioretty-Desharnais-Weise cannot really go head to head to with Ovechkin or Kuznetsov. Desharnais has been incredibly successful this season as he has not had to face the oppositions best on a nightly basis. I am concerned as to how coach Michel Therrien will match his lines tonight. Personally, I would rather have seen Pacioretty stay with Plekanec but give Christian Thomas an opportunity on their wing before breaking the duo up. Paul Byron had a good game against the Blue Jackets but Thomas brings more to the table offensively. If Therrien is really going to go ninja blender style, I would personally love to see Pacioretty with Galchenyuk:
Pacioretty-Galchenyuk-Andrighetto Fleischmann-Plekanec-Thomas Eller-Desharnais-Weise Byron-Flynn-Smith-Pelly
5 Questions heading into the game:
1) Will tonight be a low or high scoring affair?
2) Thomas has played well and has been rewarded with playing in his 3rd straight game. Do you think Daniel Carr should get into a game though and if yes, who do you take out?
3) How will special teams influence the game? The Capitals rank 2nd on the PP while the Canadiens are 4th.
4) Dale Weise was never going to keep up his torrent goal scoring pace to start the season. As he is playing tonight with Pacioretty and Desharnais, will he be able to contribute offensively once again?
5) Fleischmann will play with countryman Plekanec tonight, will they be able to find some chemistry?
Puck drops at 7:30pm.
Cheers & Enjoy the Game! Follow @Jenbcutler