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Getting Ready for the Coyotes |
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The next visitors at the Bell Centre, the Arizona Coyotes, gave the Canadiens a hand on Sunday when they managed to beat the Maple Leafs 4-2 in Toronto as it meant that the Toronto outfit stayed just a point ahead of the Habs. Of course, they still have two games in hand but they actually need to win those games for that to matter and let's face it, they didn't win on Sunday did they? And that game was against the Coyotes, a team which is fast falling out of playoff contention and only has 48 points. Tonight, while the Tricolore rests, the Yotes will be playing in Ottawa against the Sens which means that tomorrow, Galchenyuk and co. will be on the second game of a back to back stint. Montreal won't have any excuse to lose really as their last game was on Saturday night and they've got a couple of weeks off to look forward to.
This will be the second meeting of the season between the two teams, the first one was in Arizona in December and the Habs won that one 2-1 despite being outshot 37-28 and while the projectors were squarely on Max Domi and Alex Galchenyuk managed to put their name on the scoring sheet. Tomorrow though, Galchenyuk (now wearing number 17) will be back in Montreal for the first time and it will be interesting to see what kind of welcome he receives. To be fair, when the trade happened, there were some upset fans but as the season start and the Habs faithful began to see what they had got in Max Domi, there's less and less upset around. Montreal loves players with heart and while Chucky had plenty of talent, he didn't really look like he was giving his all out there contrary to what Max Domi provides this season. He's intense and cares about the defense as much as he does about the offense and his energy is not without reminding the crowd of Gallagher's.
Right now, here's where the two rivals stand:
Galchenyuk 38 games played, 8 goals and 17 assists for 25 points, -12 and 18 penalty minutes
Domi 50 games played, 16 goals and 28 assists for 44 points, +6 and 59 penalty minutes
Having now played 32 less games than he played last season, Max Domi is just one point short of his points total then. Furthermore, he's currently 8 points short of his career high in a season of 52. I believe it's more than fair to say that Domi is really a good fit in Montreal, he loves the Spotlight and the attention and sure doesn't crumble Under pressure. It's also Worth noting that he slotted in pretty effortlessly as a centre for the Habs. As for Galchenyuk well, he started the season on the injured reserve before playing centre for the Yotes but much like it happened in Montreal, he's now been moved to the wing. The Coyotes had a good excuse to do so when they got Nick Schmaltz from Chicago but now that Schmaltz is injured, Chucky is still on the left wing. Points wise, his 25 points do not take him even halfway through to his career best season total of 56 but he did miss some games due to injury to be fair. Even without taking points into account though, Galchenyuk is now a third line LW for Arizona while Domi is Montreal's first or second line centre (depending on who he plays with). So far so good for Marc Bergevin really.
At today's practice the following lines were used:
Tatar - Domi - Lehkonen
Drouin - Danault - Gallagher
Hudon/Byron- Kotkaniemi - Armia
Agostino - Peca/Chaput - Deslauriers
Mete - Weber
Reilly - Petry
Kulak - Benn
Alzner
Price
Niemi
It therefore looks like Hudon will be filling in for Byron tomorrow night as well and may get his chance on the power play. Price was in the starter's net and that might mean that he will play against the Coyotes and therefore miss the game against the Devils on the 2nd of February.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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