Game 6: Montreal Canadiens vs. New Jersey Devils
How to watch
Start time: 7:15 PM EDT / 4:15 PM PDT
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Devils region: MSGSN2
Streaming: RDS, TSN
The NHL is trying something a bit different tonight. Rather than having 90% of the games begin at 7:00 PM Eastern as they usually do, game starts will be offset by at least 15 minutes, a cascading schedule of NHL action that includes all 32 teams. It begins at 6:00 PM and sees the puck dropped for the 16th and final game at 11:00 PM.
Montreal is fifth up in the order of play, back home to host the New Jersey Devils. It will be Montreal’s third game in four days after they began the season with plenty of breaks in the opening week-and-a-half. So far the Canadiens have two wins in this span, and will try to complete the sweep.
Fatigue will be a factor versus a Devils club that hasn’t played since Friday. The Canadiens will have to go deep into their reserve tanks to stay in the fight.
| Canadiens | Statistics | Devils |
|---|---|---|
| 3-1-1 | Record | 2-1-1 |
| 51.0% (13th) | Scoring-chances-for % | 60.6% (1st) |
| 3.20 (13th) | Goals per game | 3.75 (8th) |
| 3.00 (14th) | Goals against per game | 3.50 (22nd) |
| 15.0% (21st) | PP% | 42.0% (1st) |
| 79.3% (15th) | PK% | 70.6% (26th) |
| 1-2-0 | Head-to-Head Record (22-23) | 2-1-0 |
New Jersey has been one of the best possession teams in the opening two weeks of the season, launching an average of 34 shots on goal per night and getting three scoring chances to every two they allow at five-on-five. They’ve been most lethal on the power play, however, sitting tied for the league despite playing just four games with nine goals on the man advantage, 60% of their total offensive output.
The Canadiens witnessed that even in the first game of the pre-season when the Devils came to town and went three-for-four on the man advantage in a 4-2 win. The teams look little like they did on that night back in September, but that’s just an indication of how effective the tactics are that New Jersey uses on its power-play chances, and how lethal Jack Hughes (who had three points in the game) can be no matter whom he’s put on the ice with.
To say that discipline will be critical to Montreal’s chances tonight would be an understatement. They survived versus a Washington Capitals team that can’t get anything going offensively and held the Buffalo Sabres to one goal on five short-handed opportunities, but the Devils aren’t going to be so courteous. Hughes and Jesper Bratt already have seven points apiece on the power play, and must have been salivating knowing that the Canadiens were getting served up next.
After Jake Allen played a critical role in Montreal’s last two wins, the task will fall to Samuel Montembeault to keep the Devils at bay. He’s one of the few Habs players going into the match who won’t feel the effects of the previous two games, but will probably be just as tired as the rest when the game is done. It will probably also be the first game that Joel Armia gets into, back up with the Habs after starting the year in the AHL, and likely eager to prove he still belongs on the NHL roster. He has the ability to be a difference-maker in the game, and he will need to be.
Last night in Buffalo the Canadiens showed familiar issues containing teams in the defensive end, but they did do a good job of keeping the Sabres more to the perimeter than they had been recently. The defencemen still had some difficulty with their net-front assignments and the forwards seem caught between whether to block lanes or attack puck-carriers, leading to long presences in their own zone. The Devils have too much firepower to let them formulate their plan of attack during extended presences, and the game will be another test for St-Louis and his staff to devise a strategy to prevent those long, draining shifts from happening.
