GAME DAY | Canadiens – Coyotes: Preview, Prediction, Lines, Goalies, TV

By
Sam Gerber
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Game Preview by Sam Gerber
Last game : MTL 1  COL 2     The Habs played a decent road game, but unfortunately couldn’t get the win. The Habs got an early lead on a rare power-play goal. However, the power-play the rest of the night was being sub-par. With the game tied going into the third the Avalanches got an early goal where Jonathan Drouin let his man go twice and then he bumped Price on the play. The Canadiens tried to comeback but had no A-level  chances in the third which allowed Philipp Grubauer to have a comfortable night.  

For a complete game recap: Habs Searching for Offence

Players to watch

  • Brendan Gallagher
    Gallagher was the only goal scorer for his club last game. While he played with a little more determination then the game before, Gallagher and his linemates did very little to create scoring chances. He needs to do more.   
  • Max Domi
    Domi had another quiet game offensively, made poor decisions on the power-play and was not active in the defensive zone. Going up against his former club should give him extra motivation to get out of his slump.    
  • Jordie Benn
    Benn will be partnered with Shea Weber again. Teams have chosen to attack his side of the ice and exploit the fact that Benn is not a good skater.  

Keys to Victory

  • Create scoring chances
    The Canadiens cannot be satisfied with taking a high volume of low quality shots. They must do a much better job of creating quality scoring chances. 
  • Use the depth
    Montreal has more depth in their lineup than the Coyotes and they need to take advantage of it.
  • Be defensively sound
    The Habs defense has to be much better than they have shown recently. 
Matchup by All Habs staff
Gila River Arena, Glendale, AZ | December 20, 9:00 PM ET | TV: TSN2, RDS, FS-A

2018-19 statistics
COYOTES CANADIENS
30 (28th) Points (rank) 39 (15th)
14-17-2 Record 17-13-5
6-9-1 Home/Away 7-6-3
4-6-0 Last 10 6-4-0
2.45 GF/G 3.06
2.79 GA/G 3.23
16.2 PP% 12.4
89.0 PK% 77.2
50.05  CF%  54.44
 
 
Projected forward lines, defense pairings and goaltenders
Forwards
Keller – Schmaltz – Garland
Galchenyuk – Stepan – Fischer
Panik – Richardson – Archibald
Crouse – Cousins – Kempe		 Drouin – Domi – Shaw
Tatar – Danault – Gallagher
Byron – Kotkaniemi – Lehkonen
Agostino – Chaput – Hudon
Defensemen
Ekman-Larsson – Connauton
Chychrun – Hjalmarsson
Goligoski – Lyubushkin		 Benn – Weber
Reilly – Petry
   Schlemko – Mete
Out of the lineup
Scratched: Oesterle, Hill
Injured: Dvorak, Demers, Hinostroza, Grabner, Raanta
 Scratched: Peca, Deslauriers, Kulak
Injured: Armia
Goalies
Darcy Kuemper Carey Price
Record: 4-8-2
GAA: – 2.87
Sv%: – .909
SO: 0
Alternate: Calvin Pickard		 Record: 13-10-4
GAA: – 2.91
Sv%: – .902
SO: 1
Alternate: Antti Niemi
 What to Expect by Sam Gerber
Two players traded for each other, Alex Galchenyuk and Max Domi, meet for the first time since the transaction. The Habs know that there’s more to the game and will have to stay focused but Domi and Galchenyuk will be the story all night. The Canadiens have to start strong. They let points get away from them last night and need to use that as motivation early. Another loss and the Habs are in for a long road trip. 
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