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

A Look Back

The Predators opened the scoring mid-way through the first period but momentum swiftly shifted shortly after as Jake Evans trickled a wrist-shot past Yaroslav Askarov on a stretch pass from David Savard. Kirby Dach followed up with another goal just 1:38 later on a heads-up pass from Jesse Ylönen who made his mark in his first call up of the season. Cole Caufield found two power play goals and Jonathan Drouin demonstrated his best performance this season marking three secondary assists.

Last game: MTL 4  NSH 3  F

For a complete game recap: Habs Energized | RECAP: NSH @ MTL

Players to Watch

• Jonathan Drouin
  The Quebec native has not been playing particularly well. He’s been on a steady decline since the 2018-19 season with a plethora of injuries and just poor play overall. It hasn’t been a very good look for the 27-year-old winger, however, he’s marked four assists in the past three games. Drouin is not a notable goal scorer but could potentially find a role being an assist giver such as one of their opponents tonight: Matt Barzal.
• Jordan Harris
  Number 54 continues to impress playing a 200-foot game. He’s defensively consistent and drives offense. With continued responsibility, Harris will grow into a very important two-way defenseman for the club in the future.  In his rookie season, the 5-foot-11-inch defenseman has marked 11 points in 38 games played.
• Kirby Dach
  Dach was quiet for a seven game stretch only adding one assist to the stat sheet but he’s excelled in his last three matches finding two goals and an assist. With regained confidence and the team finding some heat, he could be finding some rhythm.

Keys to Victory

• Win special teams
  The Canadiens netted two powerplay goals versus the Predators.Bringing that success into the Big Apple will be a key factor in taking down a strong Islanders penalty kill, who are currently tied for seventh with a penalty kill success rate of 82.2 percent.
• Throw pucks on net
  The Habs found lots of success by throwing pucks on net against the Preds, with 35 shots on net. The team should take a similar approach against a strong goaltending tandem in Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov.
• Conserve energy
  Nashville made a resurgence late in the third period scoring in the last two minutes of the game. When the team is leading they need to play shut-down hockey and not lose focus. The Islanders have depth alongside some offensive weapons and have six players with 10 plus goals in the roster compared to the two on the Canadiens in Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.

2022-23  statistics

• “He may be in a better spot in the lineup than at the start of the season, and he deserves it. He takes the opportunity that comes his way.”

Bottom Line