Game 34: Montreal Canadiens @ Columbus Blue Jackets
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In Canada: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Blue Jackets region: FanDuel Sports Network Ohio
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
Alex DeBrincat didn’t score a goal in the home-and-home set with the Montreal Canadiens, but he’s been one of the Detroit Red Wings’ most productive players this season, on pace for another year with at least 25 goals and probably a lot more.
Trey Augustine is currently in a battle with Montreal Canadiens prospect Jacob Fowler for the Mike Richter Award as the NCAA’s best goaltender. He’s currently in Ottawa for his third World Junior Hockey Championship, looking to make it back-to-back gold medals.
Holding the 26th overall selection going into the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, the staff here at EOTP leaned on our consensus rankings to fill in up to 25, then ultimately selected Andrew Basha with the pick. In the actual draft, Basha fell to the Calgary Flames at 41st overall, perhaps adding another young star to a skilled group already in place.
This is the level of talent that could be available to Montreal in the summer of 2026 with the pick they acquired along with Patrik Laine in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets for Jordan Harris.
| Canadiens | Statistics | Blue Jackets |
|---|---|---|
| 14-16-3 | Record | 13-15-6 |
| 47.9% (26th) | Scoring-chances-for % | 48.8% (20th) |
| 2.91 (21st) | Goals per game | 3.26 (10th) |
| 3.55 (29th) | Goals against per game | 3.62 (31st) |
| 22.4% (12th) | PP% | 18.7% (21st) |
| 82.4% (9th) | PK% | 73.5% (27th) |
| 2-0-0 | Head-to-Head Record | 0-1-1 |
Laine wasn’t in the lineup the first two times Montreal played his former club this season, held out during the road trip that included a stop in Columbus at the end of November before making his Canadiens debut in the next home game. In the nine matches he has played, he’s scored eight goals, all on the power play. He needs to score 19 more times this season to break the highest total he ever produced with the Blue Jackets.
Despite not having the sniper for the first two games of the season series, the Canadiens have already won it with a 5-1 win on November 16 and then a 4-3 overtime decision at Nationwide Arena 11 days later. Eight players have goals in the games with Nick Suzuki being the first to double up when he scored the overtime winner.
Montreal leapt over the two teams ahead of them in the Eastern Conference standings last week, needing all four point to do so versus the Red Wings. The pre-Christmas schedule has worked out in just such a way that Columbus is next on the list, one point ahead. The Blue Jackets have helped the situation by losing nine of the 13 games played since the last meeting. If the Canadiens can make it three-for-three on the season, they’ll jump ahead of another club and sit one game under .500 heading into the holidays.
It’s too early to talk about them working themselves back into the playoff race, but they’re building a bit of momentum and getting contributions from throughout the lineup as they prepare for what is annually the toughest portion of their season, on the road at the end of December.
