Game 73: Montreal Canadiens @ Carolina Hurricanes
Start time: **5:00 PM EDT / 2:00 PM PDT**
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Hurricanes region: FanDuel Sports Network South
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
The Carolina Hurricanes had an almost ideal performance in the first game of a back-to-back on Saturday, outshooting the New Jersey Devils 34-19 and winning 5-2. The Montreal Canadiens put in a similar effort versus the Nashville Predators, bringing an end to a mini streak of slow starts by holding their opponent to three shots in the opening frame, building a lead in the second, and coasting to a 4-1 win.
Neither of today’s combatants had to expend a great deal of energy last night, and both Rod Brind’Amour and Martin St-Louis did a good job of distributing the ice time among all the skaters, with the highest deployment for each team being K’Andre Miller’s 22:09, and Noah Dobson’s 21:34. Even with the Canadiens losing Josh Anderson due to illness, Montreal’s forwards ranged from Nick Suzuki at 18:53, to Jake Evans at 12:59 even with four penalty minutes on the night. The teams are as fresh as they could possibly be for second start in 24 hours … or 22 as the case is for the Habs.
Tale of the Tape
| Canadiens | Statistics | Hurricanes |
|---|---|---|
| 41-21-10 | Record | 46-20-6 |
| 49.0% (22nd) | Expected-goal share | 55.9% (2nd) |
| 3.51 (3rd) | Goals per game | 3.50 (4th) |
| 3.15 (24th) | Goals against per game | 2.92 (9th) |
| 24.5% (5th) | PP% | 23.6% (8th) |
| 76.7% (26th) | PK% | 80.3% (13th) |
| 2-0-0 | Head-to-Head Record | 0-2-0 |
| Cole Caufield (45) | Most goals | Seth Jarvis (30) |
| Nick Suzuki (64) | Most assists | Sebastian Aho (48) |
| Nick Suzuki (88) | Most points | Sebastian Aho (73) |
Montreal just beat the Hurricanes on Tuesday, one of their wins in an active streak of four. It is their second run of at least four wins this season, also beating Nashville in the fifth game of the season to claim their first one. The Habs are going for the season-series sweep of the team leading the Eastern Conference, already taking two games by a combined score of 12-7. The Canadiens are one of five teams to beat the Hurricanes on two occasions, three to accomplish that in regulation, and the first with a chance to increase that number to three.
Despite the 5-2 score, the win versus Carolina earlier this week wasn’t nearly as convincing when looking at the underlying possession metrics. The 16-4 shot edge the Hurricanes had in the opening 20 minutes were responsible for most of that, and the rest the result of the Canadiens defending a lead in the third period. Montreal didn’t get many shots on net, but went for tips through traffic and shots from close range when they could, and found more than enough offence versus Frederik Andersen to turn that into two points.
It appears that we’ll see the same goaltending matchup in this game, considering that Jacob Fowler played last night and Brandon Bussi faced the Devils. The edge should therefore once again go to Montreal in that department, though they shouldn’t rely on Jakub Dobeš making 41 saves again. The game should be seen as challenge to perform better than they did five days ago as they work themselves into form for what is looking more and more likely to be a playoff appearance.
