Canadiens VS Devils: What You Need To Know
This is the 2nd meeting this year between the Montreal Canadiens and the New Jersey Devils. The Devils beat the Canadiens 2-1 in a game which saw Martin Brodeur tie former Habs great Patrick Roy for appearances by a goaltender with 1029.
The Devils are currently first in the Eastern Conference, and have played 5 games less than the Canadiens. They were on their way to having their 2 game win streak snapped at home against the Lightning Friday night, but the game was suspended!
The Canadiens are still in a playoff position, 8th place, but have a resurged Flyers team nipping at their heels, only 2 points behind and 3 games in hand.
Saturday night's game will see Brian Gionta face his former team for the 1st time, since Gionta was still injured (broken left foot).
The other former Devil, Scott Gomez, has been hot ever since he started playing with top 6 caliber forwards in Pouliot and Gionta. Gomez has 1 goal and 10 assists, and is a +3 in his last 8 games.
The Canadiens will be without the services of Andrei Kostitsyn, who will miss at least 6 weeks, maybe more. The Canadiens have him listed as out "indefinitely".
With Plekanec's recent slowdown and seemingly tired, combined with the injury to Kostitsyn, Coach Martin may start looking to reunite his former number 1 line of Gomez centering Gionta and Cammalleri. Cammalleri has also found himself pointless in his last 3 games.
Georges Laraque is coming off arguably his best game of the season. Yes, really. He still has yet to put a shot on net, but almost got his 3rd assist of the season through a beautiful pass (yes, really) to Metropolit.
Prediction: While Martin/Gainey seem to put Halak primarily against teams in the bottom half of the league, the Devils are not a high octane offensive team, having score only 4 more goals than Montreal. The dynamic duo could be looking to further increase Halak's trade value by getting another solid performance from Jaroslav.
If Montreal does not play at 110% for at least 59 minutes, they will lose this game. New Jersey has a way of just patiently waiting out a young team like the Canadiens, and pouncing on their mistakes. I am predicting a repeat of their first game, with a 2-1 victory by the Devils.
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