The Habs will try to string together a second consecutive victory for the first time this season, as the Sabres are in town for the first time since their elimination last spring. Jacob Fowler will be the starting goalie for a third straight game since his recall from the Rocket. Fowler is 1-1 with a 1.46 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage after his first two starts. Jakub Dobes, for his part, will be in net for the first time in more than a week against the Capitals at Capital One Arena tomorrow in Washington!
The Canadiens will be without the services of Mike Matheson for tonight’s game, which will give Kaiden Guhle the chance to reach 20 minutes of ice time after he played 15 minutes in his first game of the season against the Wings on Saturday night. Florian Xhekaj will miss a second consecutive game, giving Owen Beck the chance to make his first appearance of the season tonight alongside Jake Evans and Kirby Dach on the fourth line. Oliver Kapanen, who is day-to-day still injured, will have to wait before playing his first game of the season.
On the Sabres’ side, they will have to deal with the loss of Rasmus Dahlin, who did not make the trip to Montreal after getting hurt in their win last night in Buffalo against the Panthers. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen should be in net; he is 2-2 with a 3.67 goals-against average and a .812 save percentage this season.
In numbers:
The Sabres are 0-1 on the road while the Canadiens are 1-2 at home. The Sabres have scored 16 goals and allowed 22 after 6 games. For the Habs, it’s 15 goals for and 19 against.
The Sabres’ power play sits at 13.6%, while their penalty kill is only at 60%. As for the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge, the anemic power play has scored just one goal in 17 opportunities for a big meager 5.9%. On the penalty kill, they’re at 76.2% efficiency.
Lane Hutson will try to extend his point streak against the Sabres after recording assists in 6 consecutive games (8).
What I’d like to see tonight:
Given that the power play is going nowhere after five games, I’d like to see MSL give Zachary Bolduc some time on the first power-play unit. One of the shortcomings so far this season at 5-on-4 is the lack of shots on goal; a Bolduc in the bumper could change things, in my humble opinion.
Juraj Slafkovsky is off to a slow start to the season with only one goal in 5 games, which is exactly the same start as last season after 5 games as well. The Slovak scored his second of the season in the sixth game against the Blueshirts last season. I’d love to see the power forward score his second of the season tonight as well, but above all I’d like to see him play a strong game while making good decisions with the puck, which hasn’t been the case so far.
Just like the Canadiens, I’d love to string together two good predictions in a row for the first time this season!
Season prediction: 1-3
Guaranteed win: 1-0
Prediction:
BUF - 2
MTL - 5
With that, have a good rest of your day everyone and enjoy the game tonight.