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Pregame: Canadiens vs Panthers |
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Hockey Hainsight
Montreal comes to town after losing their first game back from the Christmas break against the Carolina Hurricanes. Tonight’s game promises to be a tough test for the Canadiens who have lost nine of their last 10 games against the Panthers including this season’s first meeting in Montreal which Barkov and co. won by a score of 5-1. It will be the 112th meeting between the two sides and the Habs now have a losing record against the Cats (49-51-6-5).
Martin St-Louis has confirmed there won’t be any changes to his line-up, aside from in net where Jake Allen will be replacing Cayden Primeau in net. Allen should have his hands full dealing with Florida’s leaders, Barkov has got 43 career points in 32 games and Matthew Tkachuk who has 26 points in 23 games. In nine career games against Florida, Allen has got a 2-7 record with a 4.89 GAA and a .864 save percentage.
Thankfully for the Canadiens, Juraj Slafkovsky will be in the line-up as he has not felt any effect from the questionable hit he was rocked with curtesy of Stefan Noesen. There was no penalty on the play as it was deemed the Slovak’s head wasn’t the first or main points of contact. Still, the league concussion spotter pulled him out of the game to undergo the concussion protocol with five minutes left to play. Slafkovsky wasn’t best pleased about that, the Habs still had a chance to get back in the game and he wanted to help his team.
Brendan Gallagher leads the team in points against Florida with 23 in 33 games followed by Sean Monahan who’s got 13 in 17 games, just like Josh Anderson. Former Panther Mike Matheson will be playing the 500th game of his career against the team that drafted him. He’s got five points in the last four games and chances are he’d love to keep his hot streak going.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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