Three time’s a charm? The Montreal Canadiens will try again for their first home win of the season as they host the Buffalo Sabres. The visiting team won’t make it easy for the Habs, having won their first two road games of the season, outscoring their opponents 7-4.
The two teams split last season’s regular season series, with Montreal winning the first three and Buffalo the last three.
Tomas Vanek and Luke Adam lead the Buffalo squad in scoring, with 7 and 6 points respectively, in their first 4 games.
Ryan Miller is a career 19-8-5 against the Canadiens, with a 2.33 GAA and .921 save percentage. Miller’s last appearance in Montreal was on March 22, where he recorded a shutout in the Sabres 2-0 win.
Quite possibly Habs coach Jacques Martin read Andrew Berkshire’s analysis of his team’s defense and made a minor adjustment on the blueline. Martin had Hal Gill paired up with Raphael Diaz, while Josh Gorges was matched with P.K. Subban.
Carey Price is 8-5-5 in his career against Buffalo (1.96/.937). He was on the hook for all three losses last season, but got little offensive support as his team managed just three goals. Peter Budaj is 3-1-0 with a 1.84 GAA and .933 save percentage against the Sabres.
Lineups after the jump.
MONTREAL CANADIENS PROJECTED LINEUP
Forwards
Travis Moen– Scott Gomez – Brian Gionta
Lars Eller– Tomas Plekanec– Erik Cole
Max Pacioretty– David Desharnais – Andrei Kostitsyn
Mathieu Darche – Andreas Engqvist – Aaron Palushaj
Defensive Pairings
Josh Gorges – P.K. Subban
Hal Gill – Raphael Diaz
Goalies
Carey Price – Peter Budaj
BUFFALO SABRES PROJECTED LINEUP
Forwards
Thomas Vanek – Luke Adam – Jason Pominville
Nathan Gerbe – Derek Roy – Drew Stafford
Ville Leino – Tyler Ennis – Brad Boyes
Cody McCormick – Paul Gaustad – Patrick Kaleta
Defensive Pairings
Jordan Leopold – Christian Ehrhoff
Andrej Sekera – Marc-Andre Gragnani
Goalies
Ryan Miller – Jhonas Enroth
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