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Pregame: Canadiens vs Stars and World Junior Championship Update |
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Hockey Hainsight
The Canadiens are set to take on the Stars at 8:00 PM tonight and Martin St-Louis has confirmed that he would be making no change to his formation. Christian Dvorak was not on the ice with his teammates and the severity of his upper body injury has yet to be assessed, it should be done once the team comes back to Montreal. In other words, Jonathan Kovacevic remains in the line-up which features seven defensemen and Samuel Montembeault in net.
Montreal has lost its last three games, and a win tonight would give them seven points out of the 14 up for grabs during their seven-game road trip. Victory could prove to be quite a challenge though as Dallas has won its last two games and its last six home games. Back-up Scott Wedgewood will get the start for the Stars, his 16th of the season as starter Jake Oettinger is still nursing a lower-body injury. So far, he’s got an 11-2-2 record with a 2.92 GAA and .905 save percentage. It will be Wedgewood’s first game against Montreal while Montembeault has taken on Dallas twice posting a win and a loss with a 3.04 GAA and a .931 save percentage.
Dallas has won the last three games against the Habs, five of the last six matchups and seven of the last 10. The Stars were in great form in their last game of the year as they destroyed the Hawks with an 8-1 win. After reaching his 500th career game, Mike Matheson is chasing another milestone, and he only needs one more point to have 200.
The Canadiens won’t be the only Montreal team in action tonight though as the PWHL Montreal will be playing the first game of its short history. Captain Marie-Philip Poulin will be leading the charge as her team takes on Ottawa and goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer at 7:00 PM. The game will be broadcasted on RDS 2 and judging by yesterday’s tilt between New York and Toronto, fans can expect a speedy and physical brand of hockey.
Meanwhile, Lane Hutson and Jacob Fowler are moving on to the semi-finals of the World Junior Championships thanks to a 7-2 triumph over Latvia. Hutson spent 24 minutes on the ice, once again being the most used player of the game for the Americans and adding another assist to his tournament tally. As for Fowler, he stopped 23 of the 25 shots he faced for a .920 save percentage. They will be the only Habs’ prospect to play in the semi-final as Owen Beck and Canada were upset by the Czechs earlier today and Filip Mesar and Slovakia were showed the door by Finland in a 4-3 overtime loss. A shame for Mesar who had managed to tie the game for his country with less than a minute left in regulation and top of adding an assist earlier in the game. He finishes the tournament with nine points in five games.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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