Montreal Canadiens @ St. Louis Blues
How to watch
Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In the Canadiens region: CityTV, Sportsnet 360 (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the Blues region: Bally Sports Midwest
Fresh off the heels of their first road victory of the young season, the Montreal Canadiens travel to Missouri for a tilt against a team that hasn’t fared well of late, that being the struggling St. Louis Blues.
Tale of the Tape
| Canadiens | Statistics | Blues |
|---|---|---|
| 4-4-0 | Record | 3-3-0 |
| 44.6% (26th) | Scoring-chances-for % | 43.4% (29th) |
| 2.50 (29th) | Goals per game | 2.33 (30th) |
| 2.88 (10th) | Goals against per game | 3.00 (12th) |
| 4.17% (31st) | PP% | 26.67% (8th) |
| 84.0% (8th) | PK% | 92.31% (4th) |
| 1-1-0 | H2H Record (21-22) | 1-0-0-1 |
Thursday saw another game marked by late heroics for the Canadiens, a 3-2 nail-biter against the Buffalo Sabres. Forward Josh Anderson, for already the second time this season, provided the go-ahead marker late in regulation. He had also tallied the game-winner in the season-opener versus Toronto, that time with only 17 seconds left on the clock. Not bad for a guy who only had one winner in all of last season.
Backup goaltender Samuel Montembeault also stood on his head throughout the game, making some brilliant saves among his 43 on the night, and coming up big when called upon en route to his second win of the 2022-23 campaign.
One last bright spot to touch on was the play just under seven minutes into the third period when rookie defenceman Kaiden Guhle wired the one-time pass from teammate David Savard to the top shelf for his first career National Hockey League goal. The kid is truly the real deal, and a huge bright spot for the young core on the Montreal back end. Guhle did, however, leave the game briefly and is listed as day-to-day, so hopefully the issue is something he can recover from quickly.
First overall pick Juraj Slavkofsky missed his third straight game with an undisclosed upper-body injury, however he did travel with the team, and it’s possible he slots back into the lineup against St. Louis.
The Blues started the season red-hot, winning three straight, and were looking like a fresh team ready to turn heads. However, they have dropped their last three games, only scoring three goals throughout their current skid.
Backup goaltender Thomas Greiss, newly signed this offseason, set a St. Louis record in his debut by making 39 saves, the most by any in their first game with the club in franchise history. He was put between the pipes in their last game Thursday versus Nashville, but it was a different kind of game for Greiss and his teammates. Despite going up by an early 2-1 margin, they seemed to put on the brakes, and the Predators offence came alive, scoring five straight en route to a 6-2 thumping.
Nashville’s fifth goal of the contest, scored by Nashville captain Roman Josi, was the first power-play marker allowed by the Blues this season. Will the Canadiens be able to break out of their woeful 1-for-26 spell on the man advantage? One could only hope so, as they are second-to-last in the entire league, ahead of only the Columbus Blue Jackets, who have yet to score even once on the man advantage.
It’s likely that 2008 St. Louis draft pick Jake Allen will get the nod between the pipes for Martin St-Louis’s squad, and Jordan Binnington will go back tending net for Craig Berube’s team.
While one team is riding the high of their win last game, its first road win of the season, St. Louis is looking to break out of its slump and put together a W come Saturday night.
