Tonight the Montreal Canadiens will try to win a second consecutive game while their opponent, the San Jose Sharks will be looking to snap their current six game losing streak. The Canadiens can empathize with the Sharks recent struggles as they were on their own four game winless streak up until they beat Ottawa this past Saturday night. Montreal currently sits in 1st place in the Atlantic division with 43 points, five up on the 2nd place Detroit but are now 1 point behind the Washington Capitals who have overtaken the Canadiens as the #1 team in the Eastern Conference. The Capitals also hold two games in hand. For their part, the Sharks are in 5th place in the Pacific Division with 29 points but are only point out of 2nd place in the somewhat weakened Pacific and so are still well in sight of a playoff position.
San Jose has had to endure their own share of injuries this season, most notably missing Logan Couture. Couture had been out with a broken ankle since the start of the year and in just his second game back, he suffered a small arterial bleed around his right thigh. While he is expected to make a full recovery he won’t be in Montreal to help the Sharks tonight. The Sharks lineup tonight will be:
San Jose Sharks morning skate at the Bell Centre ahead of tilt with #Habs. #TSN690 pic.twitter.com/kxmLHAzIrc
— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) December 15, 2015The Canadiens have made one lineup change from yesterday’s practice and will counter with:
#Habs: Les trios du jour.
Pacioretty-Plekanec-Byron
Eller-Galchenyuk-Weise
Fleischmann-Desharnais-Carr
Andrighetto-Mitchell-Flynn
— J-F Chaumont (@JFChaumontJDM) December 15, 2015Brian Flynn drops back down to the 4th line, reunited with Torrey Mitchell while Daniel Carr gets another opportunity to play with David Desharnais and Tomas Fleischmann, a move I am in agreement with. Dustin Tokarski will get the start in goal. This will be his 3rd consecutive start of the season and it is well-deserved. He has was very good in the loss to Detroit and excellent in the win against the Senators. Tokarski looks like he is keeping his game a little more simple and toning down his movements, thus not getting caught out of position like he was during the preseason or even late last year. For the Canadiens to get through the next while without Carey Price, they will need strong performances from Tokarski and Mike Condon alike. We already saw Condon get overworked the first time Price was out of the lineup. Having a healthy competition between Tokarski and Condon will only help the Canadiens.
Speaking of Carey Price, it was just announced that:
Carey Price wins Lou Marsh Award as Canada's top athlete in 2015
— James Duthie (@tsnjamesduthie) December 15, 2015Leading up to the announcement, Price was amongst the favorites to win the award as Canada’s best athlete of 2015. After all he had an incredible 2014-2015 season and swept the NHL awards. Price becomes the first goaltender to win the prestigious award. There is no doubt that Price is deserving of the award, however I would also like to acknowledge the amazing year that sprinter Andre DeGrasse and golfer Brooke Henderson had as well.
Finally, it was also announced that today that Zack Kassian has been reinstated by the NHL:
Press release from NHL and NHLPA on reinstatement of #Habs forward Zack Kassian pic.twitter.com/dGS8l0zQ6t
— Ðrpon Basu (@ArponBasu) December 15, 2015First and foremost, this is good news for Zack Kassian and his family. It means he has completed his treatment and is progressing. Shortly thereafter though, the Canadiens placed Kassian on waivers:
Kassian (MON) on waivers. Khudobin clears.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) December 15, 2015Either another NHL team will claim Kassian and give him a fresh start, or he will most likely be sent down to St. John’s. The question also remains, what does Kassian want for himself? He has to look after himself first and foremost. I have to imagine and hope that Marc Bergevin has been in contact with Kassian. If playing hockey is what he wants then I hope the Canadiens will support him by letting him work at getting back into game shape in St. John’s. We’ll find out what the Canadiens plans are for him after the waiver period ends tomorrow at noon.
5 Questions for Tonight's game:
1) The Canadiens Powerplay has not scored a goal in 5 games and has fallen to 10th place in the rankings. Will they score one tonight?
2) Speaking of scoring, P.K. Subban is still stuck at only 1 goal for the season. How concerned are you?
3) Torrey Mitchell returns to the lineup tonight, having recovered from his lower body injury. In his first game back, will he play over or under 10 minutes? Will Therrien ease him in?
4) Would you give Zack Kassian a 2nd chance in St. John's or do you want the Canadiens to cut ties with him?
5) What's more likely, that the Canadiens score a powerplay goal or that the Sharks snap their 6 game win-less streak?
Puck drops at 7:30pm.
Cheers & Enjoy the Game! Follow @Jenbcutler