This seems like a storyline from earlier on in the season, but yes, it’s happening again. The Montreal Canadiens are slumping and find themselves mired in another multi-game losing streak. You may remember after winning their first game of the season, they went on to lose seven straight.
Tuesday night, the team travels to face off against the Dallas Stars; a team that finds themselves in 10th place in the Western Conference through the first quarter of the season.
It looked as though the Canadiens had a good opportunity to capitalize on a six-game homestand, but unfortunately were 2-3-1 and outscored 19-10, including two shutout losses to the Minnesota Wild and Toronto Maple Leafs.
The next two nights will be back-to-back reunions for former Habs as forward Alexander Radulov faces his former club Tuesday with Dallas, and then defenceman P.K. Subban and the Nashville Predators take on Montreal in the Music City on Wednesday.
How to watch
Puck drop: 8:30 PM EST / 5:30 PM PST
In Canada: TSN2, TSNGO (English), RDS (French)
In the USA: FS-SW
Elsewhere: NHL.tv/NHL GameCentre Live, NHL Center Ice
Tale of the Tape
| Canadiens | Statistic | Stars |
|---|---|---|
| 8-11-2 | Record | 10-9-1 |
| 2-0-0 | 2016 H2H Record | 0-1-1 |
| 53.9% | Corsi-for pct. | 51.4% |
| 50 | Goals for | 58 |
| 74 | Goals against | 61 |
| 0.73 | 5v5 goal ratio | 0.90 |
| 14.9% | PP% | 27.4% |
| 75.7% | PK% | 83.3% |
The Stars aren’t a team to be taken lightly when it comes to games played on home ice at the American Airlines Arena, going 7-2-0 so far this season.
Captain Jamie Benn leads the team in both goals (11) and points (21), while John Klingberg shares the lead among NHL defencemen (with the St. Louis Blues’ Alex Pietrangelo) in points with 19 of his own.
The Canadiens have a three-way tie for team lead in points (13) with Brendan Gallagher, captain Max Pacioretty and blue-liner Shea Weber all achieving that total.
While Montreal hasn’t had the services of their number-one goaltender Carey Price for quite some time as he nurses his lower-body injury, he did make the team trip, which could be a point of optimism for the team.
Meanwhile Dallas’ off-season acquisition Ben Bishop has stood tall for them (quite literally, at 6’7), registering eight of his team’s wins.
