Game 22: Montreal Canadiens @ Columbus Blue Jackets
Start time: 7:30 PM EST / 4:30 PM PST
In Canada: Sportsnet East (English)
In the Canadiens region: RDS (French)
In the Blue Jackets region: FanDuel Sports Network Ohio
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, Sportsnet+
The Canadiens found out at the last minute that they would be playing last night’s game without Mike Matheson, so that meant a heavy dose of Kaiden Guhle and Lane Hutson in the first ever game versus Utah HC. At the end of the night, the two had nearly identical ice times — 26:25 and 26:28, respectively — and had been two of the most dangerous-looking offensive players for the team.
It’s a relative qualification because the Canadiens put just 13 shots on Karel Vejmelka despite 31 unblocked shot attempts. That’s 18 tries that missed the net, and many of them came from close range. Montreal ranks last in the NHL with only 23.6 shots per game, and a performance like last night’s explains why. The players seem to feel they need perfect shots to beat goaltenders. Even with Hutson finally seeing time on the top power-play unit, he was also guilty of looking for the perfect setup rather than just trying to get pucks on goal from all angles. It ended up being an overtime loss for Montreal, and they can really only blame their lack of urgency (and aim) in their offensive presences for not finding the third goal that would have won the match.
The Canadiens get another shot at a win tonight after traveling to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets. Guhle and Hutson will likely be dealing with fatigue, so their deployments might be lessened. Everyone else is relatively fresh (including David Savard who spent 12 minutes in the penalty box in the third period), while Matheson may be able to play again as well. It was Matheson who opened the scoring in a 5-1 win over Columbus back on November 16, so perhaps he can help get the team’s offence in gear.
| Canadiens | Statistics | Blue Jackets |
|---|---|---|
| 7-12-2 | Record | 9-9-2 |
| 47.7% (25th) | Scoring-chances-for % | 31.9% (11th) |
| 2.76 (21st) | Goals per game | 3.45 (8th) |
| 3.76 (30th) | Goals against per game | 3.60 (29th) |
| 21.4% (10th) | PP% | 18.2% (19th) |
| 83.3% (8th) | PK% | 77.8% (20th) |
| 1-0-0 | Head-to-Head Record | 0-1-0 |
Montreal shouldn’t expect the same scoreline this time around, however. I wrote in the preview for the first game of the season series that the Blue Jackets deserved better than their record indicated at the time. Since that loss at the Bell Centre, they’ve rattled off three consecutive wins, beating Boston 5-1, coming out on top in a wild game with the Tampa Bay Lightning 7-6 in overtime, and then playing another high-scoring affair with the Carolina Hurricanes, earning a 5-4 win. Those results have gotten them to a .500 record on the season and their goal differential is creeping back up to even.
Offence from the defence has been the theme for Columbus on this run as well. Zach Werenski was just named the NHL’s first star of the week for contributing two goals and five assists in the three games. The booming top line of Dmitri Voronkov, Kirill Marchenko, and former Hab Sean Monahan that Montreal did well to contain 11 days ago has been relighted once again, with six goals in that span. They’ve also received a couple of special-teams goals from Kent Johnson, whose future in Columbus was in question just a few weeks ago.
It’s unlikely Montreal will be able to hold the home team to just one goal again. and they can’t be as timid about trying to score as they were last night. It’s an even bigger test versus Columbus than it was the first time around, but opponents have been scoring their fair share even during this hot streak. The Canadiens will need to join them to put an end to a two-game skid.
