Canadiens Look to Bounce Back Tonight In Original Six Matchup

When the Canadiens left Montreal for their first real road trip of the season, they were 5-2-1. Since then, they’ve lost four straight and sit at 5-5-2 heading into Thursday’s matchup in Detroit. The Canadiens will play the Red Wings for the first time this season at 7PM ET. You can catch all the action on TSN2 and RDS.

Both teams are coming off 5-3 losses on Tuesday night and will look to get back in the win column in this original six matchup. The Canadiens are hoping for a better effort from their squad after they fell behind 4-0 in the first period of Tuesday night’s loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Detroit didn’t fare any better, falling behind 5-0 before scoring three third-period goals to lose 5-3.

This will be the first time the Canadiens have played Jeff Petry since they traded him to Detroit earlier this off-season. Of course, the Canadiens played Petry a few times last season when he was a member of the Penguins after they traded him the first time. They’ll also see former Hab Ben Chiarot.

The Canadiens are hoping a couple struggling players can get going tonight, namely Josh Anderson, who has yet to score this season. Anderson has four goals in 13 games versus the Red Wings in his career. We’ll have to see if Rafaël Harvey-Pinard will return to the lineup tonight. He hasn’t lit the lamp this season either, but he has two career goals in just one game versus the Red Wings.

The Canadiens have yet to announce a starter for tonight’s affair, but this seems like a prime opportunity to give Cayden Primeau a start tonight. The Habs play three games in the next four days, with the 10-1-1 Boston Bruins and 9-2-1 Vancouver Canucks coming to town on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. I would imagine the Canadiens don’t want to throw Primeau out for those two games.