GAME DAY PREVIEW | Montreal Canadiens vs Colorado Avalanche: Preview, TV, Start Time, Statistical Match-up, Projected Lines, Starting Goalies, Keys to Victory, Habs Tickets

A Look Back

Sam Montembeault was sharp early making 17 saves in a scoreless first period. Kaiden Guhle found Josh Anderson in front of the Arizona net who made a tremendous effort on his stomach to throw it to Cole Caufield for the first goal of the game just 49 seconds into the second period. Christian Dvorak scored his seventh goal of the season on a well placed shot from Arber Xhekaj. The Yotes scored a pair to send it to extra time. Mike Hoffman was the overtime hero for the second time this season netting his seventh goal of the year.

Last game: MTL 3  ARI 2  F/OT

For a complete game recap: Hoffman OT Hero | RECAP: MTL @ ARI

Players to Watch

• Anthony Richard
  The 26-year-old made his debut on Tuesday night and was visibly nervous. The Trois-Rivieres native leads the AHL in goals with 18 tucks and is sitting in a three-way tie with 31 points, good for fourth. Richard could use his speed to make an impact when the team faces off against the defending champions in Denver.
• Juraj Slafkovsky
  The 6-foot-4-inch winger was promoted to the second line but has been struggling. One issue has been casual play keeping just one-hand on his stick, not playing with his head up and generally being situationally unaware. These are just a few issues that the Slovakian winger needs to address, and although he is 18, fixing the details in his game will help shape him into the player he needs to be.
• Mike Hoffman
  Number 68 was on a four-game pointless drought before netting the overtime winner in Arizona Tuesday night. The last time he scored an OT winner was on November 12th against the Penguins. He followed that up with three points in the next four games. So it’s possible that Hoffman feeds off the success and will be looking for more production moving forward.

Keys to Victory

• Clear the puck
  The Canadiens have been outshot in their last four games giving up a total of 129 shots. The last game they led the contest in shots was their win at home against Calgary on December 12th. Clean breakouts, mitigating turnovers, and focusing on smooth transitions are all key factors in keeping the puck out of the defensive zone..
• Create secondary offense
  With just nine goals scored in the last five games, the bottom-six needs to contribute more to alleviate the pressure on the top pairings. The Colorado Avalanche are offensively tilted and will give the Canadiens the ultimate challenge up front.
• Stay disciplined
  The Avalanche are a hard hitting offensive threat and currently the Canadiens are sitting 30th in the league averaging 12.1 penalty minutes a game. The Avs are tied for fifthth with a success rate of 27.2 percent on the power-play. The Habs need to play a clean brand of hockey and avoid lazy penalties.

2022-23  statistics

• “I’ve coached him long enough to know how important a player like that can be on a team…he’s a guy who can play anywhere on the ice and anywhere in the lineup, on the power play, on the back end…These players those are hard to find.”

Bottom Line