So far this year, the Canadiens have got a 18-10-4 record at home while their road numbers standing at 14-11-3. The main difference is that they've played more games at home than they have away from Montréal but that means that the tail end of the season will be spent mostly on the road. With 22 games to go, 9 will be in Montréal and 13 will be on the road including stops in Toronto, San Jose, Winnipeg and Washington. The Canadiens currently have 71 points which was their final total last season so whatever happens, this season will have been an improvement. I know some people hope that they lose and miss the playoffs to draft higher but I just cannot do that...To me, the Tricolore's goal should always be to win! Besides, with the draft lottery, finishing last, doesn't mean that much...I mean if the Oilers missed the playoffs they'll just win the first pick anyways. I know they haven't won it every year, but they've had more than their fair share of high draft picks and a lot of good that did them right? I say play to win and the rest will take care of itself. If you're meant to jump ahead in the lottery, it will happen just like it did for Carolina last season.
As for tonight's match-up, the Flyers roll into town with a 7-2-1 record in their last 10 games and a red hot rookie goalie in Carter Hart. The youngster has now played 21 games and has 13 wins to show for it with a 2.67 GAA and a .920 save percentage. Can this 20 years old from Alberta finally be the answer to the Flyers' goaltender headache? I honestly hope he is; they've been wandering in the goaltenders graveyard since Pelle Lindberg's untimely death in 1985. Some will argue that Ron Hextall was also a solid goalie but the Flyers didn't like him enough to keep him for more than 6 seasons (he was described as inconsistent, injury prone and with quite the short fuse) sending him to Québec in the famous Eric Lindros trade. He only played a year with the Nordiques before they traded him to the Islanders.
Up front, the Flyers are lead by Giroux, Couturier and Voracek points wise with 61,56,50 respectively. Meanwhile, in 60 games, Wayne Simmonds is struggling with 27 points and it doesn't look like he'll be able to reach the 50s or 60s this year as he has in 4 seasons. All signs seem to point to him being traded before the trade deadline on Monday.
The Canadiens only had an optional practice this morning so there's no word on the line-up just yet. We do know however the Danault will be back since his son is now born and safely home with his mother. This means that everyone is available for Claude Julien to pick from and it will be interesting to see who is left out of the squad. If it was my decision, the line-up would be as follows:
The Flyers, while they aren't the Broad Street Bullies of old still dish out a lot of hits and i'd put Deslauriers in there for that. I think Lehkonen could use a bit of time to think about what he should be doing when the net is empty and he has the puck...especially since he hasn't scored in what? 20 games? As for Hudon, is no longer part of the plan so might as well not use him and waste time on his. This (like most games until the end of the season) is a must win game and this isn't the time to pull passengers along. Daily faceoff reports that Carey Price will be in net tonight (thank God for that) and I assume that the complete line-up will be told to reporters when Julien meets the media some time this afternoon. The puck is set to drop at 7:30 and let's hope the Canadiens are ready from the start and play right away.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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