It's a longstanding tradition that the Montreal Canadiens host some matinee games on Super Bowl Weekend, and that continued this year with two games against the New Jersey Devils and Tampa Bay Lightning. Saturday's game didn't go as planned, with the Devils earning a 4-0 shutout victory. It was one of the Habs' ugliest offensive performances of the season, which is saying something when you consider some of their bad moments.
How to Watch Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Montreal Canadiens
Date: Sunday, February 9th
Time: 1 PM ET / 10 AM PT
Venue: Bell Centre
How to Watch: NHL Network, TSN2, RDS, Fanduel Sports Network, FuboTV
The Canadiens have been in one of their worst stretches of the season, and it continued on Saturday. It'll be difficult to get up for this game as their mid-season vacation and likely Super Bowl party awaits at the final buzzer. The Canadiens' staff hopes to win this game and build some momentum for after the break, but I don't like their chances after what we've seen recently.
It hasn't been smooth sailing for the Lightning, as they found themselves out of the playoff picture at times over the past two weeks. Three consecutive wins over the Ottawa Senators (twice), and the Detroit Red Wings have righted the ship, as those two teams were the ones battling with them for the positioning. The Lightning are back in third in the Atlantic Division with two games in hand on the Senators. They are also four points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs with one game in hand.
The Canadiens must keep an eye on Brandon Hagel in this game, as he leads the Lightning with six goals and three assists over his last five games. Playing on a line with Nikita Kucherov helps things, as the superstar also has six assists over that span. The Canadiens counter with their leading scorer over the last five games, Alex Newhook. The speedy forward has four points in the five games, while Joel Armia leads with two goals and Kirby Dach leads with three assists over that span.