Game 49: Montreal Canadiens vs. New Jersey Devils
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In Canada: CityTV, Sportsnet East (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the Devils region: MSGSN2
Streaming: ESPN+, Sportsnet+
As it often is for the Montreal Canadiens when they don’t have their best game, it was clear right from the start of Thursday’s contest when passes were off and the defensive play had no composure that it was going to be at least a difficult opening period. Typically during this weeks-long run of great play, they’ve managed to figure things out as the game has gone on, but that was never really the case versus the Detroit Red Wings despite scoring a couple of goals to get back in it.
At five-on-five, Montreal allowed 3.69 expected goals from a large number of dangerous chances on Samuel Montembeault. That was a number the Canadiens hadn’t been allowing during their winning stretch, with the game on December 7 versus the Washington Capitals the last such defensive performance before the team took off in the middle of the month. Adding the home game versus the Tampa Bay Lightning in which their rival registered 3.46 expected goals, that’s consecutive difficult defensive games in a row following a sequence of 19 matches with under three expected goals against at full strength. When you look back to the seven unanswered goals by the Toronto Maple Leafs a week ago, it’s clear that the Canadiens’ play is beginning to slip.
It would have been impossible for them to maintain the same intensity they showed while beating many of the NHL’s top teams, and a rough patch like we’ve seen over the past week was due at some point. The question is how quickly can they pull themselves out of this funk and prevent it from becoming a tailspin.
| Canadiens | Statistics | Devils |
|---|---|---|
| 24-20-4 | Record | 27-17-6 |
| 48.5% (25th) | Scoring-chances-for % | 54.2% (4th) |
| 3.02 (14th) | Goals per game | 3.06 (12th) |
| 3.31 (26th) | Goals against per game | 2.50 (5th) |
| 20.4% (19th) | PP% | 28.9% (2nd) |
| 81.6% (10th) | PK% | 82.5% (6th) |
| 0-1-0 | Head-to-Head Record | 1-0-0 |
Somehow they will need to amp themselves up for a game versus a New Jersey Devils team they’re not in any type of competition with. New Jersey is seven points clear of the Metropolitan Division teams in the wild-card race and not a club the Habs have been keeping tabs on as they’ve risen up the ranks. It’s also a team that the Habs have infamously struggled against, especially at home for some reason; they haven’t beaten New Jersey at the Bell Centre since December 14, 2017, dropping the last eight meetings in their own arena.
The Devils are currently going through a difficult period of their own with a 4-6-3 record since Christmas. Though they did get a needed 5-1 victory over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday, they lost starting goaltender Jacob Markstrom to a knee injury. Markstrom’s injury means the crease will belong to Jake Allen for the foreseeable future, giving the Canadiens a familiar opponent. Allen hadn’t been playing often leading up to his teammate’s injury because he held a six-start losing streak dating back to November 30 before getting credit for the victory versus Boston. As he did in each of his four seasons in Montreal, he currently has a losing record despite playing for the ninth-best club in the league. He hasn’t received a great deal of goal support this season, however, as all six of his wins have come in games he’s allowed two goals or fewer, and even that level of performance wasn’t enough for him to win his last two starts.
New Jersey currently ranks 12th in the league with 3.06 goals scored per game. Going back to November 30 when Allen’s losing streak began, they are 27th, scoring just 2.67 per game. Only Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt have been around the point-per-game mark for the Devils in that time, and even Bratt has been held pointless in six of his past 11 games. It’s not an overly potent team the Canadiens will face tonight. As long as they don’t give New Jersey the chance to break out offensively with continuous pressure from the low shot, they will have the chance to score some goals and try to correct course in the first match a new three-game homestand.
