It’s the second half of a back-to-back for the Montreal Canadiens as they have a critical game against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Before I begin, I think the addition the Carolina Hurricanes made to their home games in adding their post-game Storm Surges is awesome. It’s really fun, creative, and is a good way to get the home crowd to enjoy themselves at PNC Arena. However, the Montreal Canadiens don’t need to experience the Storm Surge, and it’ll be another game for them tonight that they have to show up for.
The Habs critical weekend started with a 7-4 win over Buffalo. Sam Reinhart scored the lone goal in the first period leading the way to a crazy 40 minutes. The top two lines took the game over for the Montreal Canadiens which each finding their name on the scoresheet including Artturi Lehkonen who scored his first goal since the San Jose Game.
Tomas Tatar scored his 500th career goal for his 23rd of the season and further proof at how good of a trade that was for Marc Bergevin at the beginning of the season.
Andrew Shaw had an entertaining night as well. He scored the team’s third goal of the night, took an elbow from Marco Scandella, uncalled by the way so thank you refs, and took matters into his own hands. There were some concerns afterwards as he wasn’t on the team’s bench, but Claude Julien said it was a precautionary measure given his history and an attempt to calm him down. Given how heated he was, and fairly so, I think we can all understand that.
However, there is a mystery now as to whether anything is going to come out of the elbow such that Shaw doesn’t play. Julien said he’ll play if he’s healthy so for now, we’ll assume he’s in.
The same thing goes for Carey Price who stopped 19 of 22 shots for the victory. Julien also chimed in on that possibility saying there’s a good chance he starts for this game as well. Price gives the Montreal Canadiens the best chance to win, and he’s proven in the last few weeks that he can hack the grind.
Montreal Canadiens
Forward Lines
Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher
Artturi Lehkonen – Max Domi – Andrew Shaw
Jonathan Drouin – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Joel Armia
Paul Byron – Nate Thompson – Jordan Weal
Defence Pairs
Victor Mete – Shea Weber
Brett Kulak – Jeff Petry
Jordie Benn – Christian Folin
Goaltenders
The Hurricanes won their game last night over the Minnesota Wild and are looking to further establish separation between themselves and the rest of the battling teams.
It’s been the Sebastian Aho, and Teuvo Teravainen show all season as the number one centre has 30 goals and 50 assists for 80 points while the right winger is at 19 goals and 51 assists. Another story for Carolina has been their goaltending, and although the Habs are getting their back up in Curtis McElhinney, it won’t make the match any easier.
McElhinney has been a large part of the team’s success and has a .919 save percentage and 18 wins in 29 games. He’s an old school goaltender, but the 35-year-old has done his part in keeping the puck out of the net.
Carolina Hurricanes
Forward Lines
Nino Niederreiter – Sebastian Aho – Justin Williams
Andrei Svechnikov – Jordan Staal – Teuvo Teravainen
Michael Ferland – Lucas Wallmark – Jordan Martinook
Warren Foegele – Greg McKegg – Brock McGinn
Defence Pairs
Jaccob Slavin – Dougie Hamilton
Brett Pesce – Justin Faulk
Calvin de Haan – Trevor van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
This game will decide the season series between the Habs and Hurricanes. Carolina took the first game in a close 2-1 decision while Montreal won the second with a score of 6-4. However, there is a lot more at stake than bragging rights.
The mission is to prevent the Storm Surge at all costs! Perhaps Lehkonen gets another one, he did score on the Hurricanes the last time the two teams met up.
What Does the Scoreboard Say?
LOSE COLUMBUS LOSE! WIN VANCOUVER WIN!