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Pregame: Canadiens vs Rangers and Canada Goes for Gold |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
Much has been written about the Canadiens’ atrocious December road trip and tonight, it will be time for the team to put it all behind them. The last time the Habs faced the Blue Shirts, Martin St-Louis’ men got the win in a tight affair by a score of 4-3 but that was last April.
Unlike the Canadiens, the Rangers are vying for a spot in the playoffs and are currently third in the metropolitan division although not far from the two wildcard spots with the Capitals and Islanders in hot pursuit, just like the Penguins who aren’t far behind and have got some game in hand. Clearly, the stakes are much higher for the New Yorkers than they are for the locals.
Tonight’s visitors come to town in good health with their main offensive weapons working at full throttle, Panarin leads them points wise, closely followed by Mika Zibanejad and Adam Fox. After benefiting from a day off, we’ll see if the Canadiens make any line-up changes or line shuffling.
While the Canadiens were off last night, Habs’ prospect Joshua Roy was starring in the World Junior Championship semi-final as Team Canada took on Team USA. The Americans came out strong, completely dominating the early moments of the game and taking a 2-0 lead but the Canadians managed to flip the game on its head and win the game 6-2 in controversial fashion if you ask any American fan.
Our neighbors to the south feel they were short changed because they had 2 goals waved off and I guess if roles were reversed, Canadians would feel the same. Unfortunately for them though, the IIHF rules are clear: a player cannot be in the crease and prevent the goaltender from making a save and nor is it allowed to push the goaltender into the net when the puck is frozen.
Team Canada’s goaltender Thomas Milic was named player of the game as he multiplied saves stopping 43 of the 45 shots the USA put on net, but a case could also have been made for Habs’ prospect Joshua Roy to get the nod, the forward had a 4-point night (2 goals and 2 assists) although his 2nd goal came in an empty net. Still, it felt like he was everywhere, fulfilling important defensive missions and killing penalties as well. With 18 points during the tournament, Roy ties Jonathan Huberdeau’s record for most points by a Quebecer in the tournament. Playing alongside Connor Bedard sure helped as the 3 line mates (Logan Stankoven completed the line) were named best players of the tourney for Canada.
Owen Beck, who was a late addition to the Canadian line-up after Colton Dach was injured, only had 11 shifts on the night but he made the most of his 8 minutes 42 seconds of ice-time, getting an assist on Canada’s 5th goal.
Tonight at 18:30, Team Canada will be facing Czechia for gold, the only team that has beaten Canada thus far in the tournament. The teams faced each other on Boxing Day and the Czechs came out on top with a convincing 5-2 win. As for the Habs vs Rangers game, it’s set to start at 19:00 and if the entertainment level isn’t there, no one would blame you for flipping over to the Connor Bedard show.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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