The Montreal Canadiens will play their last game before the Olympic break on Wednesday night against the Winnipeg Jets. It will be the second duel between the two sides this season. Montreal won the first one in a shootout in early December and will be keen to sweep the season series. Winnipeg is currently nine points out of a playoff position in the Western Conference and has a 4-3-3 record in its last 10 games, having lost its previous match 4-3 in overtime to the Dallas Stars.
Meanwhile, the Canadiens are now back in the first wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference after the Buffalo Sabres claimed a point on Tuesday night in their 4-3 overtime loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Montreal and Buffalo have now played the same number of games and have the same number of points, but the Sabres have the edge in regulation wins with 26. In contrast, the Canadiens only have 20. Since that’s the first tie-breaker, it gives Buffalo third place in the division.
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Montreal put Samuel Blais on waivers yesterday. If he clears, that will allow him to see some action in the AHL with the Laval Rocket over the Olympic break, meaning that it shouldn’t be seen as an indication that Patrik Laine is about to re-enter the lineup to play against his former team.
The Habs and Jets have split their last 10 duels equally, with each team claiming the victory five times. When Montreal beat the Jets in early December, Jakub Dobes faced Eric Comrie in net. Neither team has confirmed its goaltender yet, but Dobes started the Canadiens’ last game, so Samuel Montembeault has not played since January 24 against the Boston Bruins. While Dobes couldn’t get the Canadiens the win against the Minnesota Wild, he still had a very good game, which allowed them to walk away with a point. Given the goaltender’s current form, one could advocate that Dobes is the logical choice, but at the same time, there may be a desire to give Montembeault some action.
Since the Canadiens won’t play until February 26, there’s not much point in getting the Becancour native a game now. Still, we’ll see what Martin St-Louis decides this morning after the morning skate, which is scheduled for 10:30. Dobes has a 1-0-0 record against the Jets with a 1.85 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage. Meanwhile, Montembeault has a 1-4-1 record with a 3.47 GAA and a .881 SV. Given how crucial it is to get a result out of this game, the temptation may be too strong to ride the hot hand.
At the other end of the ice, reigning Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck has seen the lion’s share of the work this season, playing in 35 games while Comrie has featured in 19. The latter has a 0-2-2 record against the Habs with a 2.68 GAA and a .917 SV, while the former is 13-6-2 with a 2.82 GAA and a .912 SV against Montreal. Hellebuyck was also in the net for the Jets’ last game on Monday night.
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Up front, Phillip Danault is the only Canadiens player to have scored over 20 points against the host; he has 23 points in 30 games, while Brendan Gallagher has 19 points in 29 games. Captain Nick Suzuki is in third place with 17 points in 20 games. Interestingly, the Jets are one of the few teams that Cole Caufield has never scored a goal against, but he still has seven points in 10 duels with the Manitoba outfit. As for Noah Dobson, who is currently on a four-game point streak, he only has two points in eight duels with them.
Meanwhile, Kyle Connor has always been a thorn in the Canadiens’ side with 28 points in just 23 games against the Habs. He’s also on a four-game point streak right now, just like Mark Scheifele, who has 25 points in 31 games. Gustav Nyquist completes the top three with 21 points in 35 games against Montreal.
The game is scheduled for 7:00 PM, and you can catch it on RDS and Sportsnet. Stephen Hiff and Trevor Hanson will be the referees, while Travis Toomey and Travis Gawryletz will be the linemen. After the game, the Canadiens will be off until February 17, when they’ll resume training at the CN Sports Complex in Brossard, but their next game will only take place on February 26 against the New York Islanders. While most players will use the break as a holiday opportunity, four Habs will be heading to Milano-Cortina: Suzuki, Oliver Kapanen, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Alexandre Texier (health permitting).
Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.
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