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Game Day: Canadiens vs Blue Jackets

January 18, 2019, 1:10 PM ET [107 Comments]
Karine Hains
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Canadiens will take in the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight for the second time this season. The first match-up between the two teams ended in a 5-2 Columbus victory in Montreal and Claude Julien will be hoping that the Jackets' canon stays silent tonight much like the fans who have yet to forget that miserable game in 2016 when the Habs were crushed 10-0 in Ohio.

Since the team is playing back to back games, this morning practice was an optional one and we'll have to refer to yesterday's lines at practice as a guide:

Tatar - Domi - Lehkonen
Drouin - Danault - Gallagher
Hudon/Peca - Kotkaniemi - Armia
Agostino - Chaput - Deslauriers
Byron

Mete - Weber
Reilly - Petry
Kulak - Benn

Price
Niemi

Julien has already confirmed that Carey Price will be in goal tonight and when he addressed the media about an hour ago he hinted that Peca may be taking Paul Byron's spot on the 3rd line. At yesterday's practice, Peca and Hudon alternated in that spot but looks like the coach has made his choice. No doubt this will come as another disappointing blow to Charles Hudon who is still way down the pecking order. Bergevin has said in the past that he likes having depth in his team but Hudon's agent has made it clear that his client wants to play in the NHL be it in Montreal or somewhere else. Unfortunately for Hudon though, he is not in a commanding position here, if Bergevin wants to keep him, he'll stay put. I guess he'll be hoping that Bergevin at least moves him at trade deadline day, but that's only on February 25th, plenty of hockey to be played till then.

The Habs recalled Karl Alzner from the Rocket yesterday and he did travel with the team even though he's not expected to play. I think it's well worth mentioning the good news of the day; Dave Stubbs reported that the legendary Scotty Bowman had this to say about the Habs' latest 1st one pick:







That's very high praise indeed and those comments will no doubt be music to the ears of Marc Bergevin and his scouting staff. Although the general consensus right now is that the Habs front office made the right choice at the draft, especially considering that Filip Zadina couldn't even make the Red Wings' roster and isn't exactly setting the AHL on fire...Whether or not the What lady likes it...




Postgame edit

Make that 4 wins in a row for the Canadiens, 8 points out of the possible 8 up for grabs are in the bank! Tonight, the story was quite similar to the last few games in that the Habs did win but they once again relied heavily on their goaltender. The Tricolore actually went over 17 minutes without taking a single shot on Korpisalo but thankfully, when they did manage to get the puck on net, it actually ended up behind the goaltender. The Blue Jackets took 35 shots on Price who was near flawless tonight. The only puck that got past him was one he mishandled after making the initial save but he didn't let that shake him. He was focused for the rest of the game and made some important saves. In his postgame comments, Claude Julien said that his team had played a good road game but that has discussed with his players at practice, he wished the club relied less on the goalie and allowed less shots. After all whether a shot is dangerous or not, it can sometimes go in, nobody's perfect and a goaltender can make mistakes.

Tomas Tatar had himself a good night at the office, scoring two well deserved goals while Joel Armia also got a double but both in an empty net so it's fair to say that he had to work less for his. Both Domi and Weber got themselves a pair of assists which means that Domi remains the team's best producer with 43 while Weber is now up to 16 points. Meanwhile, Tomas Tatar overtook Drouin points wise, he now has 36 to Drouin's 35. Speaking of Drouin, this wasn't his best match...there were some turnovers and the power play was less than impressive not only did it fail to convert but not a single shot on goal was taken with the man advantage...But, when all is said and done, it was a 4-1 win and mission accomplished for the Bleu, Blanc, Rouge.

The Canadiens are still in the first wildcard spot with 59 points but Boston has got the same total with one less game played while Toronto is a point ahead with 2 games in hand (thank you Panthers for beating them 3-1 tonight). The Habs will be back in Montreal to face the Flyers tomorrow night at 19.00. Claude Julien has said that he's yet to decide if Niemi will get the start of if Price will play twice in two days.
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