Game 44: Montreal Canadiens @ Dallas Stars
Start time: **8:00 PM EST / 5:00 PM PST**
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Stars region: Victory+
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
The last time the Montreal Canadiens played the Dallas Stars, the game wasn’t contested on equal footing. Montreal had just put in a full effort in Washington to knock off the league-co-leading Capitals the night before; the Stars had been waiting in Montreal for two days for their opponent to arrive back home. Understandably, the Habs didn’t have the energy they typically show versus top teams, especially late in the game, and could only hang on for a single point. The next night, with the tables turned on Dallas as they played a rested Ottawa Senators team, they had their seven-game winning streak broken.
Both teams have claimed wins since, and have their eyes on stringing victories together as they’ve become accustomed to. Dallas scored two power-play goals among their four unanswered to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs. The power play is a surprisingly weak area for the team; it operated around 25% in each of the past two years but Dallas is currently languishing in 26th place with an efficiency of 17.9%. Now they have seven goals on the man advantage in their last eight games as they seem to be rediscovering their form halfway through the season, so that’s something the Canadiens, guilty of six minor infractions on Tuesday night in Salt Lake City, will need to be mindful of.
| Canadiens | Statistics | Stars |
|---|---|---|
| 21-18-4 | Record | 28-14-1 |
| 48.5% (25th) | Scoring-chances-for % | 52.9% (6th) |
| 3.00 (15th) | Goals per game | 3.21 (9th) |
| 3.28 (26th) | Goals against per game | 2.44 (3rd) |
| 21.4% (16th) | PP% | 17.9% (26th) |
| 82.0% (10th) | PK% | 85.2% (1st) |
| 0-0-1 | Head-to-Head Record | 1-0-0 |
In general, it was a rough game for Montreal versus Utah HC because they weren’t engaged from the opening faceoff. We’re now seeing a bit of a pattern develop with that happening versus lower teams, because that’s no longer the Canadiens’ fight. They’re not competing to see who can be the best of the worst in the NHL, they’re battling with the likes of the Capitals, Stars, and Maple Leafs that are due up in the game following this one. Those are the games they get motivated for, and there are plenty more of them in the upcoming schedule. Proving to themselves that they can beat a Stars team they just fell to would be another big boost to their skyrocketing confidence leading through these final 13 games before the 4 Nations Face-Off.
A win tonight would give the Canadiens a .500 record on the road, which would be an impressive accomplishment considering that they went into the Christmas break with a 4-10-1 mark away from the Bell Centre. Tonight, their most difficult stretch of the 2024-25 schedule ends with the eighth road game played of the 10 since the holiday break. So far, they’ve gone 6-1, and getting to that even away record is something to strive for.
