Montreal Canadiens @ St. Louis Blues
How to watch
Start time: 7:00 p.m. EDT / 4:00 p.m. PDT
In the Canadiens region: City TV, Sportsnet 360 (English), VAT Sports (French)
In the Blues region: Bally Sports Midwest
Fresh off their first road win of the fledgling season, the Montreal Canadiens travel to Missouri to take on a team that hasn’t fared well of late, namely the struggling St. Louis Blues.
Tale of the Band
Canadians | Statistics | Blues |
---|---|---|
Canadians | Statistics | Blues |
4-4-0 | Registration | 3-3-0 |
44.6% (26th) | Score chance for % | 43.4% (29th) |
2.50 (29th) | Goals per game | 2.33 (30th) |
2.88 (10th) | Goals conceded per game | 3.00 (12th) |
4.17% (31st) | PP % | 26.67% (8th) |
84.0% (8th) | PACK% | 92.31% (4th) |
1-1-0 | H2H report (21-22) | 1-0-0-1 |
Thursday saw another game marked by late heroics for the Canadiens, a 3-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres. Forward Josh Anderson, already for the second time this season, gave the go-ahead late in regulation time. He had also scored the winner of the season opener against Toronto, this time with just 17 seconds on the clock. Not bad for a guy who only had one winner in all of last season.
Backup keeper Samuel Montembeault also stood on his head throughout the game, making brilliant saves from his 43 that night and scoring strong when called up en route to his second win of the 2022 campaign- 23.
A final positive to address was the play just under seven minutes into the third period when rookie defenseman Kaiden Guhle caught teammate David Savard’s single pass to the top shelf for his first goal in career in the National Hockey League. The kid really is the real deal and a huge plus point for the young core of the Montreal defense. Guhle, however, briefly quit the game and is listed as day-to-day, so hopefully the issue is something he can recover from quickly.
No. 1 overall pick Juraj Slavkofsky missed his third straight game with an undisclosed upper-body injury, but has traveled with the team and may return to the roster against St. Louis.
The Blues started the season strong, winning three in a row, and looked like a new team ready to turn heads. However, they have given up their last three games, scoring just three goals in their current slip.
Backup goaltender Thomas Greiss, newly signed this offseason, set a St. Louis record in his debut by making 39 saves, the most in their first game with the club in franchise history. He was placed between the posts in their final game Thursday against Nashville, but it was a different game for Greiss and his teammates. Despite an early 2-1 lead, they seemed to put the brakes on and the Predators offense came alive, going five straight en route to a 6-2.
Nashville’s fifth goal of the competition, scored by Nashville captain Roman Josi, was the first power-play goal allowed by the Blues this season. Will the Canadiens be able to get out of their sad spell of 1 for 26 on the power play? We could only hope so, because they are second to last in the entire league, ahead only of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who have yet to score a single time on the power play.
It’s likely that 2008 St. Louis draft pick Jake Allen will get the green light for Martin St. Louis’ team, and Jordan Binnington will return to net for Craig Berube’s team.
With one team on the peak of their last game win, their first road win of the season, St. Louis is looking to break out of their slump and set up a W on Saturday night.
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