The Canadiens will face the Blackhawks at the United Center tonight in Chicago and will have to do so without Nick Suzuki in the lineup for the first time since October 3, 2019. This is the first game of a four-game road trip: they will visit the Jets on Sunday for the Heritage Classic in Winnipeg, then head to St. Louis on Tueday to face the Blues and Mason McTavish, before wrapping up against the Stars in Dallas on Thursday. While it’s not exactly a “must win” tonight, the Habs cannot afford to drop the two precious points in the standings against the Blackhawks, which is the most winnable game of this trip abroad, in my humble opinion!
Nick Suzuki is expected to miss between 8 and 14 games. However, there’s no point looking beyond tonight’s game or the end of this trip before going into panic mode. Don’t forget that a certain Ivan Demidov could make his return for the game against the Penguins on October 31 at the Bell Centre, which should help make up for part of the loss of the captain. As I mentioned yesterday, if the Canadiens can maintain a .500 record during #14’s absence, that will be mission accomplished.
You’re going to tell me that the Canadiens have played at a .500 clip with Suzuki in the lineup, and you’re not wrong. However, we can all agree that the Canadiens could also be sitting at 6-2-1 if Dobes had done his job. Speaking of Dobes, I have to admit I’m not impressed by his comments following his penalty in overtime that cost his team the win against the Sharks on Tuesday. When you have a Cole Caufield saying that bad penalties cost them the game, the least the Czech could have done was own it instead of saying it wasn’t his fault. Anyway, “It is what it is,” I guess!
As I write this, I don’t know if Mike Matheson will be able to return to the lineup, and the same goes for Florian Xhekaj, but one thing I’m sure of is that the Canadiens are going to win this damn game, as a certain Jic would say! I had guaranteed a win against the Red Wings and, despite 3 goals being disallowed in that game, our Glorieux found a way to win 1-0 in a shootout.
Here’s what the lines looked like at yesterday’s practice:
Caufield-Kapanen-Slafkovsky
Kreider-Newhook-Anderson
Bolduc-Danault-Texier
F. Xhekaj/Beck-Evans-Dach
Hutson-Dobson
Guhle/Matheson-Carrier
Xhekaj-Engstrom
You all know I’m one of those who defended Oliver Kapanen throughout the offseason, and I have to admit I’m looking forward to seeing how the Swede will fare alongside Caufield and Slafkovsky, with whom he already had some success last season. Kapanen has a good hockey IQ, as MSL says; he also has a solid 200-foot game. However, it gets more complicated in the faceoff circle.
As I write this preview, I don’t know who will start in net tonight, but I don’t see a scenario where Jakub Dobes is the starter. I expect the line of Bolduc, Danault and Texier to go up against Connor Bedard’s line. I’m expecting a big team performance in the absence of the captain and, as I mentioned in the header and a bit earlier, the Canadiens are going to find a way to win this game!
Season prediction: 5-4
Guaranteed win: 1-0
Prediction:
MTL – 3
CHI – 2
With that, have a great rest of your day everyone and enjoy the game tonight.