Game 53: Montreal Canadiens @ San Jose Sharks
Start time: **10:30 PM EST / 7:30 PM PST**
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Sharks region: NBC Sports California
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
There was no doubt going into Sunday’s game that the Montreal Canadiens should come away with two points. With Anaheim Ducks top scorer Troy Terry ruled out just before the game began, the pendulum swung completely in Montreal’s favour. In the first period, Montreal was better in all aspects of the game without much effort, as they should have been. In the final 40 minutes, they fell apart, and suffered what might have been, even with four games surrendering at least seven goals earlier in the campaign, their worst loss of the season.
A month ago, the Canadiens were knocking down elite teams in succession, not surviving those games with some spectacular goaltending but being at least even and often better than those top-ranked clubs. Now, they struggle to muster up the will to beat a team that sits nine points out of a playoff position.
The only question on this road trip should have been if the Canadiens could beat the Los Angeles Kings in the finale to make it a 3-0 trip or if they would have to settle for a 2-1 record. Starting out with a loss, it is imperative that they win the final two games if they want to at least have a shot at making the post-season, a dream that was realistic in mid-January and is looking much less so after this five-game losing streak.
Canadiens | Statistics | Sharks |
---|---|---|
24-23-5 | Record | 15-33-6 |
48.5% (25th) | Scoring-chances-for % | 42.1% (32nd) |
2.90 (16th) | Goals per game | 2.61 (29th) |
3.35 (28th) | Goals against per game | 3.67 (32nd) |
20.3% (20th) | PP% | 17.5% (26th) |
82.5% (5th) | PK% | 76.4% (24th) |
1-1-0 | Head-to-Head Record | 1-0-1 |
Today’s game versus the San Jose Sharks should be nothing more than a warm-up for Wednesday night’s game at Crypto.com Arena. Since a 2-1 overtime win versus the Washington Capitals on December 3, San Jose has five wins. A seven-goal loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins is what had inspired the Canadiens to climb all the way to within a point of third place in the Atlantic Division before this collapse. When San Jose lost by seven to the Tampa Bay Lightning on December 5, the eight goal horns at Amalie Arena were the death knell for their season. The Habs’ desire to win the match should only be matched by the Sharks’ desire to lose and keep pace with the Chicago Blackhawks in the ice-cold battle for last place in the NHL.
San Jose will be hoping to add a second consecutive first-overall selection to join Macklin Celebrini in the lineup. They’ve already begun shipping out players for draft picks, probably just as much about removing effective roster players (like Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci who were just sent to the Dallas Stars) as it is about acquiring more assets for the future. The transactions netted them another first-rounder to go with their own as they hope to give a needed boost to what will become a seven-year rebuild.
Now that top scorer Granlund is out of the picture, the offensive leaders are the 18-year-old Celebrini and 22-year-old William Eklund, both sitting on 37 points. Third on the list is Tyler Toffoli, the former Montreal Canadiens player who just continues to score no matter which city he finds himself in each season. tied for the lead with 18 goals. But after playing 51 of the 54 games, Toffoli didn’t practice with the team on the weekend and may be unable to play tonight with a lower-body injury.
Regardless of which remaining players are in the lineup, the game should play out a lot like the NBA match between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Milwaukee Bucks that I had on while writing this preview: the better team gets out to an early lead (as Montreal did versus Anaheim) and just keeps adding to the total as the game goes on (as the Habs did not). It will be interesting to see how Kirby Dach and Patrik Laine respond to being benched in the last game. They should be motivated to put in their strongest effort, and that’s the best way for Montreal to take care of business the way they should in the opening game of a back-to-back versus a weak opponent.