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Having lost their last two games, the Canadiens will take on the Blues in St-Louis tonight. Martin St-Louis has confirmed that Rafael Harvey-Pinard will not be playing as he’s still dealing with the lower-body injury he picked up in Arizona. The timing couldn’t have been better for the coach as Christian Dvorak is now eligible to return, having spent the required amount of time on LTIR.
As always, St-Louis wasn’t very forthcoming about the details of his line-up. He did confirm that Samuel Montembeault would be in net and that Ylonen was coming out to make way for Michael Pezzetta. The rugger winger will be back partly because it was his turn to play and partly because the Blues are a team that doesn’t shy away from physical play. The head coach wouldn’t say anything about the lines he’ll be using, but he did confirm that Alex Newhook would be playing on the wing. This was music to my ears as I’ve written in another blog this morning that he may benefit from a stint on the wing
There’s Something About Mony
If it were up to me, Newhook would be riding shotgun with Suzuki and Caufield, Monahan would center Anderson and Slafkovsky) as I strongly believe he holds the key to unlock the young Slovak’s potential), Dvorak would center the third line flanked by Pearson and Gallagher and Evans would be between Pezzetta and Armia.
The Blues have played nine games so far and have a 4-4-1 record. Just like the Coyotes on Thursday, they’ll be in the tail end of a back-to-back since they beat the New Jersey Devils 4-1 last night. At home, the St-Louis outfit has got a 3-1-0 record and they’ve won their last 2 home games. Jordan Binnington was in goal yesterday, so it’s safe to expect that Joel Hoffer will be in net. He’s played two games this season and he’s got a 1-1-0 record, a .913 SP and a 3.01 GAA. The 23-year-old goaltender has never played against the Canadiens so far whereas Jordan Binnington has played four times against the Sainte-Flanelle and has a 1-3-0 record with a 4.31 GAA and a .855 save percentage. It’s definitely worth giving Hofer a shot.
As for Samuel Montembeault, he’s got exceptional numbers against the Blues, although he’s only faced them once, with a 1.95 GAA and a .926 SP. Up front, Brendan Gallagher has got 13 points in 15 games against the Blues while the captain Nick Suzuki has got six points in six games.
Yesterday’s practice was cancelled since the team only landed in St-Louis in the wee hours of the morning. Hopefully, the team will be well-rested and offer a better performance than they did on Thursday. The game is set to start at 7:00 PM and I’m looking forward to seeing the lines which St-Louis has put together to face St-Louis…
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