Pregame Preview: Montreal Canadiens vs Carolina Hurricanes

Tonight the Montreal Canadiens and the Carolina Hurricanes will face off at 7:00 pm EST, this will be the 2nd meeting of the season between the two clubs, with the Habs having taken the last meeting by a final score of 4-1. Let’s take a look at how the teams match-up.

Team	GP	RECORD	Last 10	G/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	S/GP	SA/GP	FO%
Montréal Canadiens	35	22-11-2	6-4-0	2.6	2.37	15.2	86.3	27.5	30.2	55.2
Carolina Hurricanes	35	10-21-4	2-7-1	2	2.63	17.1	84.7	29.3	28	52.1

Dec 16, 2014; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens forward Alex Galchenyuk (27) scores his second goal of the game against Carolina Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward (30) during the third period at the Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

At first glance it appears as though both teams are going in opposite directions this season, with the Habs trending towards making the playoffs and the Hurricanes entering the Connor McDavie sweepstakes. Taking a closer look at the numbers and you’ll notice that although the Hurricanes can’t seem to rack up any points, they actually have some decent underlying stats. They have a solid PK and their PP is actually better than the Habs! They’re strong in the faceoff dot and actually allow fewer shots than the Habs per game while taking more. What hurt the Hurricanes this season is sub-par goaltending and an inability to put the puck in the net. At just 2.0 goals per game they really are as offensively challenged as they get.

With that knowledge in hand, let’s take a look at the top 5 point producers for each team and see how they fare against each other;

Montreal Canadiens

PLAYER	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PP	GW
M. Pacioretty	35	13	14	27	17	18	1	2
A. Galchenyuk	35	10	15	25	6	17	0	1
T. Plekanec	35	10	13	23	6	14	1	2
P. Subban	35	8	15	23	7	40	3	3
D. Desharnais	35	5	15	20	7	12	2	1

Dec 16, 2014; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens forward Alex Galchenyuk (27) skates over a hat after scoring his third goal of the game against the Carolina during the third period at the Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

Currently the Montreal Canadiens don’t have any point-per-game players on their squad, but ever since the line of Brendan Gallagher, Max Pacioretty and Alex Galchenyuk have been put together the trio has upped their point totals considerably. They give the Habs a solid first line with depth through the other lines. What is nice to see this year is that there are 3 centers in the top 5 players and only one defenseman.

Carolina Hurricanes

PLAYER	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PP	GW
J. Faulk	35	6	14	20	-12	20	2	3
E. Staal	30	7	12	19	-9	12	3	1
J. Skinner	31	8	8	16	-4	6	0	0
R. Nash	35	4	12	16	-3	8	1	0
E. Lindholm	35	8	7	15	-8	10	3	3

Dec 7, 2014; Raleigh, NC, USA; Carolina Hurricanes defensemen Justin Faulk (27) takes 2nd period shot against the Detroit Red Wings at PNC Arena. Detroit Red Wings defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

What is evident here is the lace of scoring, as the Hurricanes have only one player who has scored 10 goals this year (Jiri Tlusty) and almost halfway through the season you would expect bigger contributions from more players. When a defenseman is leading your team in scoring who doesn’t have the name of Orr you probably have an issue. With Eric Stall having a poor season by his standards, Jordan Stall having been sidelined all year (he makes his debut tonight), and Alexander Semin not even bothering to show up, you know that you’re in for a long season. Injuries have riddled this edition of the Canes, but they way some of their players are under-performing I actually don’t think that there would be a tremendous difference in their overall record.

Key To The Game

Don’t allow the Hurricanes to dictate the tempo of the game. The Habs must control the pace of the game.
Avoid the parade to the penalty box. Don’t let dormant snipers wake up. Stay out of the box.
Use the transition game to punish the Hurricanes. They don’t have a defense that is the fleetest of foot, take advantage of this to create odd-man situations.
Punish bad goaltending. If there is one area where the Hurricanes have struggled other than scoring is that they allow bad goals at the worst possible time. Take advantage of this and bury them early and often.

Final thoughts

Jan 28, 2014; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price (31) makes a save on a shot from Carolina Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal (11) during the first period at the Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

The Habs have the bad habit of playing “down” to their opponent’s level while focusing on the next game. Let’s hope the lessons from the back to back games with the Sabres have sunk in. Any team can win on any given night, but these are points that the Habs need if they want to make that push for the division crown and home ice advantage come playoff time. As always this game will come down to goaltending and with Carey Price getting the start, my money is on the Habs.

I’ll be on our twitter account during the game, feel free to come and join us!

Thanks for reading.

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