Game 63: Montreal Canadiens @ Calgary Flames
Start time:Â 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In Canada: CityTV Sportsnet East/West (English), TVA Sports (French)
Streaming: ESPN+, Sportsnet+
The trade deadline saw a lot of action, with teams well back of where they want to be sending their veteran players to Stanley Cup contenders for picks and prospects. The Montreal Canadiens and Calgary Flames didn’t join in on the action because they don’t fit into either of those categories. The Canadian clubs have begun rebuilds after already undergoing the initial sell-off that signals a rebuild, and they’ve gotten to a somewhat competitive point more quickly that most resets take, and faster than many pundits predicted.
The teams made their moves to add more long-term pieces to their rosters earlier in the season. The Canadiens traded Justin Barron to acquire Alexandre Carrier, a defenceman under contract for two additional seasons after this one, and he has become a top-four option on the team. The Flames made a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers on January 31 to acquire Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee, two forwards the team hopes will be part of a rapidly maturing core.
It was clear for both sides that these were the areas they needed to address. Montreal went through the opening month struggling to figure out its defensive game. While it’s still a work in progress, things have stabilized significantly with Carrier in the fold, and even with Kaiden Guhle now out with an injury the structure has been holding well. The Flames’ rebuild injected a lot of youthful energy into the lineup, but didn’t bring much offence with it, and two forwards were meant to help. Things haven’t gone exactly to plan on that front, however; Frost has a respectable five points in 12 games played, but Farabee has just two goals on his stat line in 18 matches.
Despite the two teams carrying significant weaknesses with incomplete rosters, they both find themselves a single point back of the second wild-card spot in their respective conferences. They could have sacrificed assets that would serve them in the future to address their current needs, but both Kent Hughes and Craig Conroy wanted to see how the players already in place would handle the final quarter of the season when they and their opponents desperately seek wins. These will be important games for both franchises as they try to pinpoint the areas that need to be improved in the off-season, and a playoff round would be a bonus evaluation period to do so.
| Canadiens | Statistics | Flames |
|---|---|---|
| 30-26-6 | Record | 29-23-10 |
| 48.3% (26th) | Scoring-chances-for % | 49.1% (20th) |
| 2.97 (14th) | Goals per game | 2.58 (32nd) |
| 3.31 (26th) | Goals against per game | 2.92 (13th) |
| 21.7% (17th) | PP% | 21.4% (18th) |
| 82.1% (5th) | PK% | 74.6% (26th) |
| 0-0-1 | Head-to-Head Record | 1-0-0 |
At the moment, the Canadiens are in the better form, arriving in Calgary with a 5-0-1 record since the 4 Nations Face-Off while the Flames are 3-2-2 in that time. Outside of a rough couple of weeks when the schedule was compressed leading up to the tournament, the Canadiens have been much better after the Christmas break than they were in the opening months. Even with the 1-7-1 stretch they had at the time of the international pause, they’re 16-9-3 dating back to December 28, a .625 points percentage that would rank eighth in the NHL if that were the season mark.
To raise that number even further, the Canadiens will need to find a way to solve rookie goaltender Dustin Wolf. He is the main reason why the Flames are in the hunt for a spot despite ranking last in the league in goals per game. He ranks sixth in the NHL with 21.63 goals saved above expected in 37 starts, and the Flames have a 21-12-4 record when he’s between the pipes, Wolf has played Montreal two times in his short career, getting the win in both after allowing only two goals in each contest.
Oddly enough, the Flames’ special teams are running counter to their five-on-five play. They are a relatively effective team on the power play with a 21.4% efficiency despite their overall dearth of offence; their 38 power-play goals account for just under a quarter of their total offensive output of 160 goals. It’s the small handful of veterans who, like David Savard in Montreal, are happy to help the club rise through the rebuilding stage leading the way on the man advantage. MacKenzie Weegar (17 points), Nazem Kadri (16), and Jonathan Huberdeau (16) pace the team, making sure it takes advantage of the easier minutes.
The penalty kill of the team that ranks 13th in the NHL in goals surrendered per game has a difficult time when they can only defend with four skaters. Just under three of every four penalty kills are successful for them, undoing whatever good work they accomplish on the power play.
Given those numbers, the best thing the Canadiens can do to get back in the win column is build up some offensive-zone pressure and force the Flames into taking penalties. They’ve seen first-hand how difficult it is to solve Wolf, and need to force him to face the most difficult shots.
The two teams immediately above Montreal — the Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers — play head-to-head this afternoon, meaning one of those clubs will come away with less than two points. If the Canadiens can run their post-4 Nations streak to 6-0-1, they will make up ground in their quest for a post-season berth.
