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After easing into the season with only four games in two weeks, the Habs will hit the ground running tonight with the first game of a back-to-back in Buffalo. This will only be the second game away from home after the season opener in Toronto and coach Martin St-Louis has decided to give the net to Jake Allen for the second game in a row. The bench boss said he spoke to him after he was the first star in Saturday’s game, and it was decided that he had earned another start. Allen has played 11 games against the Sabres so far in his career, getting the win seven times and he’s got some solid numbers as well (2.31 GAA and .920 SP).
As for Cayden Primeau, he didn’t even make the trip to Buffalo as the Habs decided to leave him in Montreal so he could do some one-on-one work with goalie coach Eric Raymond. Hopefully, this means he’ll be getting a start this week. To be fair, since it was decided he wouldn’t play in Buffalo, there was no point taking three goalies on the road, especially considering there wasn’t even a real practice this morning, just a morning skate.
Kaiden Guhle and Christian Dvorak didn’t make the trip either. Even though Dvorak is now practicing in a regular jersey, he’s still not eligible to play since he was put on LTIR. The minimum stay on the long term injured reserve is either 10 games or 24 days. In other words, he’ll be eligible to come off LTIR and play on November 3rd (he was put on the list on October 9th and the Canadiens’ tenth game is scheduled for November 2nd in Arizona).
Don’t expect a lot of practices this week, St-Louis has confirmed that he prefers saving his troops’ energy for the numerous games they have on deck. Joel Armia, who was recalled this weekend, will have to wait to play his first game of the season since the coach confirmed there wouldn’t be any changes to his line-up, meaning that Pezzetta will be dressed for a third game in a row. His teammates haven’t forgotten what happened the last time he played in Buffalo, that night, he scored the shootout winner and pulled off a Dave “Tiger” Williams celebration. When he came into the locker-room this morning, he noticed someone had drawn it on the board. When asked if he would use Pezzetta in the shootout if it came to that, St-Louis just chuckled, clearly remembering that moment fondly.
There’s no word on which lines will be used tonight, but considering Saturday’s result, I would be surprised if there was any line tinkering. While Allen will get the start for the Canadiens tonight, it’s Eric Comrie will be in Buffalo’s net. So far, Comrie has only played one game on Saturday night, and he won making 24 saves and posting a .960 save percentage. Needless to say that he’s earned a second game. Just like the Habs, the Sabres are playing the first game of a back-to-back tonight as they’ll be taking on the Senators in Ottawa tomorrow.
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