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

Sam Gerber

December 30, 2017

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

Game Preview by Sam Gerber

Last game: MTL 1 TBL 3

The Habs left Carey Price to do all the heavy lifting once again. With a goal in the dying seconds of the second period and another in the opening moments of the third period the Lightning changed the entire game.

For a complete recap: Habs Best Not Good Enough vs Bolts

Players to watch

Jonathan Huberdeau
Huberdeau is red hot of late and is a big part of the Panthers win streak.
Aaron Ekblad
Ekblad is the work horse for the Panthers on the blue line. He’ll be active on both ends of the ice and has become one of the best shot blockers in the league.
Jonathan Drouin
Drouin is frustrated not having the return to Florida that he had hoped. Habs fans are left wondering if he will have a strong performance soon?

Keys to Victory

Play to the final buzzer
The Habs can’t let up at anytime during the game and need to start forcing the play.
Own possession
The Canadiens need to play with the puck a lot more and win battles to retrieve it.
Attack down the middle
Montreal has been attacking along the boards making it easy for their opponents to defend. Attacking through the center of the ice will be harder to defend.

Matchup by All Habs staff
BB&T Center, Sunrise, FL \| December 30, 7:00 PM ET \| TV: CBC, City, TVAS, FS-F
	2017-18 statistics
PANTHERS	2017-18 statistics	CANADIENS
37 (24th)	Points (rank)	36 (27th)
16-16-5	Record	16-18-4
9-6-3	Home/Away	7-11-1
6-3-1	Last 10	3-6-1
2.81	GF/G	2.61
3.22	GA/G	3.13
16.2	PP%	19.0
81.1	PK%	77.2
48.88	CF%	50.94


Projected forward lines, defense pairings and goaltenders
Forwards
Huberdeau – Barkov – Bjugstad Dadonov – Trocheck – Malgin McGinn – McCann – Brickley Haley – MacKenzie – Sceviour	Pacioretty – Danault – Shaw Galchenyuk – Drouin – Lehkonen Byron – Plekanec – Gallagher Deslauriers – Froese – Carr
Defensemen
Yandle – Ekblad Matheson – Pysyk Weegar – Petrovic	Alzner – Petry Benn – Jerabek Morrow – Lernout
Out of the lineup
Scratched: Injured: Luongo, McCoshen, Vrbata	Scratched: De La Rose, Hudon Injured: Weber, Hemsky, Montoya, Schlemko
Goalies
James Reimer	Carey Price

Record: 10-9-4 GAA: 3.10 Sv%: .909 SO: 1 Alternate: Harri Sateri	Record: 11-12-2 GAA: 3.00 Sv%: .906 SO: 1 Alternate: Antti Niemi

What to Expect

Florida is on a four game win streak and play a physical brand of hockey. Emotions should flare over for both teams leading to a lot of odd man rushes.

Prediction: Canadiens 4 Panthers 3

The Canadiens need every point they can get now and will not take kind to being pushed around.

Highlights from the NHL

Quick Links from Rocket Sports Media publications
	[wp_rss_multi_importer category=”3″ thisfeed=”8″ showdate=”0″]


	[wp_rss_multi_importer category=”6″ showdate=”0″]

Tickets


Get Habs Tickets
Need tickets for an upcoming Canadiens game? Click the following link for the best prices on available tickets: Montreal Canadiens Tickets

Follow @AllHabs on Twitter

2017-18 statistics