Photo credit: Timothy T. Ludwig
After signing a 4-2 on Saturday night, the Montreal Canadiens will be attempting to sweep the season series against the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night at the Bell Centre. In three games this season, the Habs have outscored the Sabres 17-8. The final tilt of the season will be the Canadiens second to last game before the deadline and it will be interesting to see if Montreal decides to sit some players to prevent injuries if trades are impending.
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Martin St-Louis gave a day off to his players on Sunday and there hasn’t been any word on who will get the start in net, but even though Jakub Dobes played well in the win on Saturday night, Samuel Montembeault should be back in net. The Habs’ starter is 4-5-0 against the Sabres with a 3.05 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage.
As for Buffalo, it’s not out of the question to see Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen back in net, he didn’t have a bad game on Saturday night although he only posted a .893 SP. He now has a 1-3-0 record against the Habs with a .847 SP and a 4.54. Former Toronto Maple Leafs starter James Reimer is now the Sabres’ backup and has a 8-7-3 record against Montreal with a 2.99 GAA and a .909 SP.
Up front, Saturday’s game didn’t change the points leaders for the Canadiens against the visitors, Brendan Gallagher is still far away in front with his 24 points, while Patrik Laine and Nick Suzuki each added a point to their totals, giving the former 14 points in as many games and the latter 14 in 16.
Suzuki, Laine, Lane Hutson and Cole Caufield are all on four-game point streak while Alex Newhook has a three-game point streak and goals in his last two games. The Canadiens’ win on Saturday night also gave the Habs their fourth consecutive win, their longest streak so far this season. With an assist in the 4-2 win, Suzuki now has 221 and his next one will make him catch up to Max Pacioretty who’s 38th in team history in that department. The American needed 626 games to reach that mark, while the current captain has only skated in 433 games so far.
As for the Sabres, Alex Tuch stayed a point-per-game player against Montreal, adding a point to his total, giving him 17 points in as many games. Tage Thompson and Jason Zucker totals remain unchanged, each have 15 points, the former in 15 games and the latter in 21 matchups. Zucker is still injured and his status is reevaluated day-to-day.
Monday night’s game will be the 300th game between the two sides in the regular season and the 335th meeting if you include the playoffs. The Habs have a 132-117-31-19 record against the visitors and have now won seven of the last 10 duels.
On Tuesday, the Canadiens will fly out to Edmonton for a road trip that will see them take on the Oilers, the Calgary Flames, the Vancouver Canucks and the Seattle Kraken. Their next home game will take place on March, 15 against the Florida Panthers. The defending Stanley Cup champions acquired Seth Jones from the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday and are gearing up for another long playoffs run.
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