Montreal Canadiens: Previewing the California Road Trip

The Montreal Canadiens are taking their talents to a warmer climate as the three game California road trip is set to start on Tuesday.

It’s been an eastern view to the season so far for the Montreal Canadiens. Four of their games have been against teams in the Eastern Conference, and their only game against a Western Conference team was at home. The team jumped on a plane on Sunday to fly over to California to start that once deadly road trip.

The California stretch usually happens later into the season. The earliest it’s ever been was late November of last year. Whether it happens early or later into the year, this road trip isn’t something that the Habs have excelled at. In fact they do pretty poorly.

Here’s the team’s record in this road trip in the last three years:

2014-2015 Season (0-0-1)

4-0 loss San Jose
3-1 loss Anaheim
4-3 loss Los Angeles (SO)

2015-2016 Season (0-0-1)

6-2 loss San Jose
3-2 loss Anaheim (SO)
3-2 loss Los Angeles

2016-2017 Season (1-0-0)

1-2 loss Anahim
1-2 loss San Jose
5-4 loss Los Angeles (SO)

Two points in nine games over three years isn’t pretty at all. It has to be different this time around. The Montreal Canadiens will start this stretch in San Jose on Tuesday. Unfortunately, their also on a four game losing streak. They absolutely cannot afford for history to repeat itself here. It would be very difficult to come back from a 1-7 (overall) slump.

Los Angeles has been off to a good start with a 4-0-1 record. It hasn’t been the same level of positivity for Anaheim and San Jose who have found themselves in the losing column lately.

Breaking Down the Trip

The California trip isn’t as dangerous as it once was. The Ducks are the team of the three who have a serious chance to be a Stanley Cup Contender this season. The Kings have missed the playoffs for the last two years while this may be the season when the Sharks take a step back.

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San Jose has been struggling to put up goals as of late. Similarly to the Montreal Canadiens, the most they’ve been able to score is three in the 5-3 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on opening night. Now would be the best time for the Habs to activate their offence a little bit. Seeing Alex Galchenyuk and Jonathan Drouin get their firsts was great, but Max Pacioretty needs to start finding the scoreboard more as well. David Schlemko may be close to game form and if there was ever a time to make a season debut, it would be nice to see it against his former team.

Despite changes to the coaching staff, the Kings are still a very defensive team. Four of their five games have been decided by two or less goals. Additionally, Jonathan Quick has been on his game sporting a .943 save percentage. The Montreal Canadiens have had their fair share of defensive qualms so that’s an area they definitely need to tighten up on before this match.

Anaheim may be the hungrier match up. They’ve lost their last two games against teams they should beat in the Colorado Avalanche and Buffalo Sabres. They’ll definitely be looking to turn things around. Considering they’ll have four days off until they face Montreal, it’ll be important for the Habs to have a lot of energy.

Fans should also expect to see Al Montoya have his first start of the season. He played in the Capitals game after Carey Price had four go by him in the first period. The 32-year-old was a .500 backup for the Habs last year, and for the team to have success, they’ll need him to do it again.

It’ll be interesting to see how well the Canadiens do in California. It would be in their best interest to stop the bleeding sooner rather than later. Otherwise, it’ll be a very deep hole to dig out of.

Next: How to Have a Good Season

Do you think the Habs will overcome their California slump? Let us know what you think down below.

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