The Montreal Canadiens will try to get back into the ‘Win’ column tonight as they take on the Florida Panthers at the Bell Centre. History has a chance at being made as it will be an opportunity for the Canadiens to match the 1963-1964 Chicago Blackhawks best home record to start a season of eleven wins. Individually, goaltender Carey Price will attempt to match George Hainsworth’s 90 year old record of eleven consecutive victories which he did in February of 1927.
Tuesday, Carey Price could tie a Habs record set by George Hainsworth nearly 90 years ago. He is quite ridiculous. https://t.co/12lMBkxSrw
— Ðrpon Basu (@ArponBasu) November 15, 2016
There is little doubt that Price is the best goaltender in the NHL today. The pressure is only going to get greater for him in Montreal as with all of his accolades, the expectations of bringing a Stanley Cup down Rue Ste-Catherine will only grow. This off-season, Canadiens general manager made his boldest moves yet in order to surround Price with better help. While some say the window for the Canadiens to win the Stanley Cup with their core is small, consider this: Carey Price is 29 years old and is just into the prime of his career. Historically, goaltenders take the longest to reach their full potential. Can Price get even better? That is a scary thought for opponents.
Despite their loss Sunday night to the Blackhawks, the Canadiens still lead the NHL with a record of 13-2-1. They have seen their powerplay improve drastically over the last five games as they now have the seventh best one in the league with a success rate of 22.9%. The Canadiens are scoring 3.31 goals a game and only allowing 2.06 goal a game (and that includes the anomaly of the 10-0 drubbing by the Columbus Blue Jackets). By contrast, the Panther have fallen mightily from the season before when they won the Atlantic division. As of now they sit sixth in the Atlantic with a road record of 1-4-1. However, they are in for some luck as Alexander Radulov is sick and will miss tonight’s game for the Canadiens.
The Panthers lineup should look like:
The @FlaPanthers visit the Bell Centre tonight to face #Habs. Here's what they'll likely look like in terms of lines: pic.twitter.com/UxjV1nrzsu
— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) November 15, 2016
Chris Terry was called up from the St. John’s Ice Caps yesterday and will make his debut for the Canadiens tonight. The former Carolina Hurricane was leading the Ice Caps with 15 points in 14 games played and was the fifth leading scorer in the AHL. There was some confusion as to the lines that the Canadiens will use tonight. At practice they were:
#Habs lines vs #Panthers:
— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) November 15, 2016
Pacioretty - Shaw - Gallagher
Danault - Galchenyuk - Byron
Carr - Plekanec - Terry
Andrighetto-Desharnais-Mitchell
However afterwards Therrien said:
#Habs Therrien confirms the Pacioretty - Danault - Shaw line will remain intact tonight.
— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) November 15, 2016
Were they testing the possibility of Andrew Shaw playing center at practice? A line of Danault-Galchenyuk-Byron was hard to fathom, despite the excellent play of those three players this season. The line of Pacioretty-Danault-Shaw played some excellent hockey over the weekend but they do not feel like a permanent solution. With Radulov out tonight, I would like to see Brendan Gallagher reunited with Alex Galchenyuk in an attempt to get him going again. Logically their one time teammate Pacioretty would fit in with them but we already know that is not happening. On defence, Greg Pateryn will return to the lineup after having been a healthy scratch for the past three games.
Five questions for tonight’s game:
1) How badly will the Canadiens miss Radulov tonight? Can they survive a game without him? It depends on the final lines but I believe the Canadiens can still defeat the Panthers without Radulov in the lineup. They have to come out ready to play just like they’re last few games.
2) Will the Canadiens and Carey Price match the NHL records tonight or will their streaks be broken? If Radulov were playing I would say 100% yes. Now I’m at 60-40 yes.
3) Who will step up on offence in Radulov’s place? I expect a big game from Pacioretty.
4) Will special teams be the deciding factor in tonight’s game? I think so. Radulov may be out but the Canadiens still have Galchenyuk and Weber.
5) Will Father Time ever catch up to the ageless Jaromir Jagr? No. He is the eighth wonder of the world.
Puck drops at 7:30pm.
Cheers & follow along! Follow @Jenbcutler