Canadiens Western Road Trip Ends Tonight Against Kraken

The Canadiens are coming off a big win led by their rookie sensation Ivan Demidov, who had a goal and 2 assists. He also played a major role in helping the power play get going, where he assisted on the team’s two goals on the man advantage. The Habs’ power play will be a big storyline tonight as they hope to build off their great performance on Saturday night. It’s been a long time since the Canadiens had a power play that could win them a game, but now they finally have that unit. Sportsnet’s Eric Engels mentioned it on last night’s episode of the Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro.

The Habs announced that Jakub Dobes will get the start in goal once again tonight. Despite being the clear-cut better goaltender, there was debate from fans and media who cover the team whether they should play Samuel Montembeault, who has not played in over a week, before the Habs’ next game.

A goaltender like Montembeault needs to get reps to eventually bounce back out of this nightmare stretch that he’s having, but at the same time, the Habs are in it to win as many games as possible, and Dobes has been red-hot, while Montembeault has been ice-cold lately. At the end of the day, if the team needs a win, they should continue to run the hot hand unless a risk of fatigue setting in, such as in a back-to-back situation. With the fact that the Habs only play 2 games over the next 7 nights, there is definitely no worry of fatigue for anyone.

The Canadiens also shouldn’t be making any changes to their lineup in regards to the skaters, despite the issues with Arber Xhekaj’s play as of late. Given that he only played 6:37 last game due to his costly interference penalties that could have been avoided, it will be interesting to see if he can bounce back with a strong performance or if he will find himself with under 10 minutes of ice time again. To have a good performance, Xhekaj needs to be physically imposing and throw hits to make his presence felt positively. If he can do that while having good positioning, it should be enough to earn more trust with his head coach.

It hasn’t been confirmed yet, but Joey Daccord is expected to be the starting netminder for the Kraken. When the Habs played the Kraken, 2 weeks ago, they scored 5 goals on 22 shots against Daccord. However, Daccord has been solid most of the season, posting a .915 save percentage and 2.48 GAA. Which version of Daccord will the Habs play against, the one that had struggles in Montreal or the one that has been dominant for the majority of October?

A good bet for tonight would be to take a flyer on the Over 5.5 combined goals to be scored tonight, as the Habs have had the Over hit in 4 of their last 5 matchups. The previous three meetings between these two teams have also gone over 5.5 total goals. The Canadiens are listed as -125 road favourites in tonight’s game. Kirby Dach may be a good sleeper bet to get a point tonight, as he looked hungry to produce on Saturday and will likely let that momentum from a good game for him on Saturday to tonight’s game.

While it may be a late game, it should be a good matchup between two up-and-coming teams looking to stay hot.

Are you expecting the Habs to have a great performance in Seattle tonight?