Can The Canadiens Bounce Back Against Troubled Devils?

The Montreal Canadiens are in the mix, just one point out of a playoff berth but thanks partly to a trying schedule, they came out completely flat against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday. Tonight, against a team who's had a tough time gathering wins of late  and who's just lost its starting goaltender for weeks, Martin St-Louis men will try to bounce back.

Losing Jacob Markstrom to an MCL sprain for the next four to six weeks certainly wasn't in the Devils' plans. However, this could be an interesting development for the Canadiens. When Kent Hughes traded Jake Allen to the Devils, he obtained a 2025 conditional second round pick. The two conditions were that the team he plays for qualifies for the playoffs and that he plays 40 games in the 2024-2025 season, failure to meet one of these two condition would turn the pick into a third rounder.

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Initially, it looked like Allen had no chance to play 40 games, he's played in 15 so far while Markstrom has featured in 36.  There are 32 games left on the Devils' regular season calendar, and Allen's magic number is 25, or 78% percent of that total. It's not entirely impossible, but Markstrom would probably need to be out for longer than the initial assessment and freshly recalled goalie Isaac Poulter would have to ride the pine a lot. Of course, the Devils would also need to resist the urge to acquire a more experienced netminder to backup Allen, still, something to keep an eye on.

Saturday night's tilt will be the second out of three meetings between the two sides this season, the final meeting is set for February 8, Super Bowl Weekend, or, in Canadiens' terms Family Weekend at the Bell Centre. New Jersey won the first meeting 5-3 in November, before the Habs had turned the proverbial corner. New Jersey has won seven out of the last 10 minutes between the two sides.

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After Montembeault was on duty for the 4-2 loss in Detroit, I expect Jakub Dobes to be in net tonight, which would be his first game against the Devils. Montembeault's numbers' against New Jersey are not bad though, he has a 3-1-1 record with a 2.58 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage.

At the other end of the ice, Poulter has no NHL experience so no record against Montreal while former Hab Jake Allen is 3-5-0, with a 3.29 GAA and a .882 SP. Sheldon Keefe has an interesting decision on his hands.

Ondrej Palat, who is currently listed as day-to-day is the Devils' most productive player against Montreal with 23 points in 33 games. Jack Hughes has an impressive 16 points in 10 games while Jesper Bratt has 16 points in 18 games.

Mike Matheson has the most points for the Canadiens with 20 in 29 games, while Brendan Gallagher has 13 points in 28 games and Cole Caufield only has seven points, but he's gathered them in just eight games. As for Patrik Laine, he's put up 10 points in 15 games against New Jersey.

The game is set for 7:00 PM and the Canadiens have a couple of days off before taking the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night.

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