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

Sam Gerber

November 9, 2017

Game Preview by Sam Gerber, Staff Writer

Last game: MTL 3 VGK 2

The Canadiens got great goaltending again with timely saves by Charlie Lindgren. He gets his third straight start against the Wild.

Players to watch

Brendan Gallagher
Gallagher has been on a mission this season and is three goals away from matching his goal total from last year. Gallagher will draw extra attention from opponents as long as he keeps this up which could lead to extra space for his teammates.
Ryan Suter
Suter, the former defense partner of Shea Weber, is now the workhorse defenseman for the Wild. Suter battles hard each shift and rarely makes mistakes.
Byron Froese
Froese will be playing his first NHL game for the Habs tonight. Froese was recently named captain of the Laval Rocket and has 11 points in 13 games. Expect energy shifts from Froese in his first home game at the Bell Centre.

Keys to Victory

Don’t give up first goal
The Canadiens gave up three goals in the first period against the Wild last week. They can’t let that happen in this game if they expect a victory.
Penalty kill is key
The Habs penalty kill ranks 29th in the league. They will need to turn that around if they want to keep their modest winning streak alive.
Be physical on defense
Opponents have been regularly going hard to the net knowing that they won’t be touched. It’s time for the Canadiens defense to step up their physicality.

Matchup
Bell Centre, Montreal, QC \| November 9, 7:30 PM ET \| TV: TSN2, RDS, FS-N
	2017-18 statistics
WILD	2017-18 statistics	CANADIENS
12 (27th)	Points (rank)	15 (25th)
5-7-2	Record	7-8-1
2-4-1	Away/Home	3-2-1
4-6-0	Last 10	6-4-0
3.08	GF/G	2.69
3.00	GA/G	3.56
17.1	PP%	15.9
82.0	PK%	74.1
45.44	CF%	53.93


Projected forward lines, defense pairings and goaltenders
Forwards
Zucker – Staal – Stewart Niederreiter – Koivu – Granlund Winnik – Eriksson Ek – Ennis Foligno – Cullen – Kunin	Galchenyuk – Drouin (GTD) – Lehkonen Pacioretty – Danault – Shaw Byron – Plekanec – Gallagher Hudon – Froese – De La Rose
Defensemen
Suter – Spurgeon Brodin – Dumba Quincey – Reilly	Mete – Weber Alzner – Petry Morrow – Benn
Out of the lineup
Scratched: Olofsson, Stalock Injured: Parise, Coyle	Scratched: Mitchell, Davidson Injured: Hemsky, Schlemko, Scherbak, Price
Goalies
Devan Dubnyk	Charlie Lindgren

Record: 4-5-1 GAA: 3.03 Sv%: .907 SO: 0 Alternate: Niklas Svedberg	Record: 2-0-0 GAA: 1.00 Sv%: .971 SO: 1 Alternate: Al Montoya

What to Expect

The Bell Centre should be rocking if the Habs get off to another good start.

Prediction: Canadiens 4 Wild 3

The Canadiens must use that emotion to take it to the Wild, redeeming themselves after a 6-3 loss to Minnesota just a week ago.

Highlights from the NHL

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