Blue Line Station
Fansided

Rangers vs Habs: Time to play a full 60 minutes

By Steve Paulus

MONTREAL, QC - FEBRUARY 27: Ben Chiarot #8 of the Montreal Canadiens and Jesper Fast #17 of the New York Rangers battle for position near goaltender Carey Price #31 during the third period at the Bell Centre on February 27, 2020 in Montreal, Canada. The New York Rangers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-2. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - FEBRUARY 27: Ben Chiarot #8 of the Montreal Canadiens and Jesper Fast #17 of the New York Rangers battle for position near goaltender Carey Price #31 during the third period at the Bell Centre on February 27, 2020 in Montreal, Canada. The New York Rangers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-2. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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MONTREAL, QC – FEBRUARY 27: Goaltender Alexandar Georgiev #40 of the New York Rangers makes a save against the Montreal Canadiens during the third period at the Bell Centre on February 27, 2020 in Montreal, Canada. The New York Rangers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-2. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC – FEBRUARY 27: Goaltender Alexandar Georgiev #40 of the New York Rangers makes a save against the Montreal Canadiens during the third period at the Bell Centre on February 27, 2020 in Montreal, Canada. The New York Rangers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-2. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /

About the Canadiens

The Canadiens lost their season opener on the road in Toronto 2-1.  Jonathan Drouin openeed the scoring in hot start by the Habs, but the Leafs tied the score in the first period and won on an early third period goal by William Nylander.   Jake Allen made 28 saves for the Canadiens.

In their second game, they were pummeled by the Sabres, losing 5-1.  Buffalo scored two first period goals and never looked back.  Sam Montembeault was in net for Montreal and he stopped 31 of 36 shots.

The biggest blow so far this season was the loss of Carey Price who entered the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program.  That means he will be out a minimum of 30 days.  The Habs have veteran goalie Jake Allen who started 27 games last season for Montreal , backed up by Montembeault.   Allen should get the start tonight.

The Canadiens have been hit hard by injuries. Shea Weber will probably not play at all this season due to a multitude of injuries and his career is in jeopardy.  Paul Byron is out for three months after hip surgery.  Meanwhile, Joel Edmundson and Mike Hoffman will be out the first few weeks of the season.  Newly signed defenseman Sami Niku suffered a concussion in the final preseason game.

The Canadiens are having special teams issues so far this season.  They are 0-8 on the power play and they had two-man advantages in each game.  On the penalty kill they have allowed four goals in nine chances.

This is where they are missing Weber and Byron and departed center Phillip Danault, one of the best faceoff men in the NHL.  They’ve won only 44% of their draws this season compared to last season when they won 48.4%.  Again, a minuscule sample size.

Besides Danault, gone from the team that got the Stanley Cup Final are Tomas Tatar, Corey Perry, Eric Staal, Jon Merrill and Erik Gustafsson.  We all know about the Jesperi Kotkaniemi offer sheet that resulted in his moving to North Carolina.   They were replaced by  forwards Christian Dvorak, Mike Hoffman, Mathieu Perreault, Cedric Paquette, David Savard and  defensemen Chris Wideman and the injured Sami Niku.

Six of the ten leading scorers on the team are gone, but they still have Nick Suzuki, Tyler Toffoli, Josh Anderson and consensus Calder Trophy candidate Cole Caufield up front with Jeff Petry on defense.

Without Carey Price, it’s a very different Canadiens team this season and many believe they will not make the postseason. They got younger with the departures of Staal and Perry, but they are still not a  young team and Suzuki and Caufield are the two bright spots in the lineup when it comes to youth.

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