The Montreal Canadiens will be looking to keep their spot in the Atlantic against the Buffalo Sabres who have also had a better start to their year.
The bittersweet quality of the NHL is things rarely stay the same. The Montreal Canadiens found themselves at the top of the Atlantic Division after defeating the Calgary Flames 3-2, but have since been knocked down to third place. It’s as the old saying goes, grabbing for something is relatively easy, holding on to it is the hard part.
With the Boston Bruins on their tales, a win tonight against the Buffalo Sabres will be a good way to maintain the momentum and stay in the top three.
Montreal is coming off a game that saw them score three goals in the second period striking twice on the power play. The swap of having Jonathan Drouin on the point with Jeff Petry on the left wall set up both man-advantage tallies, and it’ll be a surprise not to see the formation take the ice again in the event of a penalty.
Goaltending, as always, is going to be key even if it’s Buffalo. They have their weapons in Jack Eichel, Connor Sheary, and Jeff Skinner who look to be settling in well. The Sabres have also been getting a decent chunk of offence from their backend. Of the team’s 22 goals for this season, six of them are from defencemen including 2018 first-overall pick Rasmus Dahlin who scored his first NHL goal from a point shot in Arizona.
Based on the lines at practice, here is what the Montreal Canadiens should expect to see:
Jeff Skinner – Jack Eichel – Jason Pominville
Conor Sheary – Vladimir Sobotka – Sam Reinhart
Evan Rodrigues – Casey Mittelstadt – Kyle Okposo
Patrik Berglund – Johan Larsson – Zemgus Girgensons
Jake McCabe – Rasmus Ristolainen
Marco Scandella – Zach Bogosian
Rasmus Dahlin – Casey Nelson
The Habs will be firing back with the same winning lineup from the Calgary game. With the amount of chemistry currently flowing through the roster, it doesn’t make too much sense for anything to change. Unfortunately, that’s bad news for Karl Alzner who will be a healthy scratch.
Lines and pairings:
Tatar – Danault – Gallagher
Drouin – Domi – Lehkonen
Byron – Kotkaniemi – Armia
Deslauriers – Peca – Shaw
Benn – Petry
Reilly – Juulsen
Ouellet – Mete
Niemi
Price
It’s interesting that Claude Julien would choose to give Antti Niemi the start instead of Carey Price. Although the 31-year-old is looking to take the sole possession of second overall in franchise wins by a goaltender, it is about getting wins overall. Niemi can play well enough to give the Montreal Canadiens a chance to win and it’ll be important to ensure Price is healthy to keep his level of play high if they’re still in it by the end of the season.
Tune into the game at 7:00 PM ET / 4:00 PM PDT via TSN2 and/or RDS for the Habs region or MSG-B for the Sabres.