Game preview and how to watch
Game 42: Montreal Canadiens @ Dallas Stars
Start time: **2:00 PM EST / 11:00 AM PST**
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Stars region: Victory+
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
There are several opportunities for an NHL team to immediately get back on the ice following a loss each season, and especially in a year such as this with a compressed schedule for the Olympic break. It’s not so common for the turnaround to be quite so quick; today’s start will be just 22 hours after the Montreal Canadiens and St. Louis Blues dropped the puck on Saturday.
If you ask the players, they probably would have taken an even shorter span to try to make up for the performance that kicked off this back-to-back. The players were all frustrated with how they played yesterday, unable to make basic plays for the opening 40 minutes. Finally getting their game together in the third period to pepper St. Louis with several top-quality scoring chances made their second shutout loss of the season all the more frustrating. They had the Blues on their heels, but couldn’t get the puck past Jordan Binnington’s toes.
The first shutout of the year came on home ice versus the team they’ve headed further west to play today. The Dallas Stars scored goals from everywhere in that game in mid-November, finishing with seven despite just 19 shots on target and four high-danger scoring chances. It was a difficult day for both Jakub Dobeš, who was pulled for the second time of his short NHL career, and Samuel Montembeault, who didn’t provide much in the way of relief with two more goals against on six shots.
Tale of the Tape
| Canadiens | Statistics | Stars |
|---|---|---|
| 22-13-6 | Record | 25-9-7 |
| 49.0% (21st) | Expected-goal share | 48.7% (22nd) |
| 3.29 (6th) | Goals per game | 3.41 (3rd) |
| 3.27 (24th) | Goals against per game | 2.68 (5th) |
| 23.9% (8th) | PP% | 29.8% (2nd) |
| 77.1% (23rd) | PK% | 82.2% (6th) |
| 0-1-0 | Head-to-Head Record | 1-0-0 |
| Cole Caufield (20) | Most goals | Jason Robertson (24) |
| Nick Suzuki (31) | Most assists | Mikko Rantanen (40) |
| Nick Suzuki (45) | Most points | Mikko Rantanen (56) |
Such is the firepower of a Stars team that ranks third in the NHL in goals with almost three-and-a-half per game, despite the absences of Roope Hintz and Jamie Benn at various points in the opening half of the year, and now a much longer one for Tyler Seguin who just underwent ACL surgery.
But the Canadiens shouldn’t be intimidated by that scoring ability considering that they, outside of yesterday’s game, produce almost as much, and have seen better depth of scoring with six players already up to double-digit goal totals. Martin St-Louis’s decision to shift Juraj Slafkovský to a line with Ivan Demidov and Oliver Kapanen has balanced the top-six almost perfectly. Since the move was made on November 17 in response to injuries to Alex Newhook and Kirby Dach, Slafkovský has tied with Cole Caufield at 21 points, while rookie Demidov has been a point-per-game player. When it comes to even-strength offence, the duo of Demidov and Slafkovský paces all forwards on the team with 17 and 14 points, respectively, trailing only Lane Hutson.
Offence is only a portion of the story, however. The Canadiens have given up almost as many goals as they’ve scored, but the Stars have been strong defensively. Like the other two members of the three-headed monster in the Central Division — the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild — they couple their offence with top-five defensive numbers. In Dallas’s case, that’s largely thanks to goaltenders Jake Oettinger and one-time Hab Casey DeSmith, who have Dallas at a team .904 save percentage, which ranks fourth in the NHL. With Montreal at 28th in that category, it stands as one of the biggest differences between the two clubs.
The tables are turned on Montreal in this match from how the first four of this post-Christmas trip went when their opponent was playing the second game of a back-to-back. In each of those games. the Canadiens witnessed fatigue set in in the third and pounced for a total of 19 high-danger scoring chances and a total of eight goals to mount several comebacks. That is the fate that awaits them this afternoon versus a Stars team that hasn’t played since New Year’s Day. If the Canadiens are going to make up for both yesterday’s frustrating loss and the blowout on home ice in the first game of this season series, they need to come out of the gate with a strong start to build a cushion and hope they have enough in the tank to see out a third win of the trip.
