Canadiens: Important Duel To Stay In The Mix

karine hains

Tue, Jan 21, 2025, 7:00 a.m.·3 min read

If someone had said before the start of the season that the Montreal Canadiens would be just three points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning in late January, I'm not sure the most optimistic Habs fans would have believed them, and yet, here we are.

Right now, the Bolts are just one point ahead of the Ottawa Senators and the second wild card. Sure Tampa has got a couple of games in hand, but it's not a given that they'll win those games.

So far, Montreal and Tampa Bay have locked horns only once this season, it was during the Canadiens' most productive road trip of the season and the Habs had signed a 5-2 win with Samuel Montembeault in net, the day after Jakub Dobes had made his NHL debut in a shutout victory against the reigning Stanley Cup Champions.

Since then, Dobes has won four more games and lost none with the predictable result that fans are clamouring for the youngster to see more action. One thing that can be said about the current Habs' brass is that they are not rushing, they are not taking shortcuts. I don't see them throwing Dobes in the deep end and telling him to sink or swim. He will get his fair share of starts, but he won't steal Montembeault's number one chair yet and nor should he.

Montreal had a day off yesterday so there's no indication yet as to who will man the net today, but I would expect Montembeault to be back since Dobes didn't exactly have a dominant outing against the Rangers (although he made a couple of key saves in overtime). Montembeault's got a 2-2-1 record, with a 3.14 goals-against average and a .898 save percentage.

As for Tampa, Andrei Vasilevsky has got a fantastic record against the Canadiens, he's 15-2-2 with a 1.98 GAA and a .935 SP. As for backup Jonas Johansson who was on duty in the last duel between the two sides, he's 2-2-0 with a 4.67 GAA and a .837 SP. Since Johansson was on duty last night, it wouldn't be much of a surprise if Vasilevsky got the nod.

Brendan Gallagher is the Canadiens' most productive player against Tampa Bay with 17 points in 35 games, closely followed by Nick Suzuki who has 12 points in 16 games and Patrik Laine who has 11 in 18 games. On the other side, Victor Hedman leads the way with 49 points in as many games, closely followed by Nikita Kucherov with 43 in 37 games, Brayden Point wraps up the top three with 23 points in 27 games.

The Lightning have won seven of the last 10 games between the two sides, but the Canadiens claimed victory last time around. The game is scheduled for 7:00 PM and is the last one before Montreal hits the road for a one-game trip to Detroit.

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