Montreal Sports - Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens are travelling to Florida to face the Panthers tonight. Montreal is riding a 2 game winstreak, in which the Canadiens have score 9 unanswered goals. The Panthers are coming off a 2-0 shut out victory at home against the Maple Leafs.

The Panthers are only 2 points behind the Canadiens, with a game in hand, however they have yet to beat the Canadiens in the 2 games they have played against each other so far this season. With those 2 wins, the Canadiens have now taken the all-time lead in wins against the Panthers, going 27-26-6 in 59 total games played.

This will be the 2nd straight back to back games the Canadiens will be playing. Much like their overall record this season, the Canadiens have been playing 500 hockey in the opening game of a back to back meeting. The Canadiens had 4 back to back games in December, which saw them winning the first game twice. The Canadiens had 2 back to back games in November, and they won the first game both times. The Canadiens had 2 back to back games in October, but lost both opening games.

Jaroslav Halak has already been named as the starting goaltender, probably in part due to his GAA of 2,00 and Save Percentage of .946 against the Panthers. Halak also happens to be 2-0, with a GAA of 0,50 and a Save Percentage of .984 in his last 2 games.

Vokoun is still very strong though, having gone 6-3-2 with a save % of .959 so far in January.

Both Markov and Gomez have 4 points against Florida, and Benoit Pouliot has scored the game winning goals in both games.

Recently called up Ben Maxwell is expected to center the 3rd line between Maxime Lapierre and Mathieu Darche. Maxwell hopes to duplicate the success that Darche has had so far, with 3 points in his 3 games so far with the Canadiens.

Brian Gionta is in the midst of a 6 game point streak, with 3 goals and 4 assists.

Benoit Pouliot has at last 1 goal in his last 3 games, with 4 in total.

Travis Moen only has 1 assist in his last 18 games

The Panthers will be without their top point producer, Nathan Horton, who broke his left leg in a game against the Islanders. Both Paul Mara and Andrei Kostitsyn are still out for the Canadiens.

Tags: Darche \ Florida Panthers \ Gionta \ Gomez \ Halak \ hockey \ lapierre \ Markov \ maxwell \ Moen \ Montreal Canadiens \ NHL \ Pouliot \ Vokoun