The Montreal Canadiens are well aware that they can’t keep surprising their opponents. Winning 13 wins in a 17-game skid tends to ring alarm bells for your potential rivals. The Canadiens will look to respond after a recent setback when they host the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night.
«Teams are ready to play us now,» Montreal defenceman Kaiden Guhle said. «It’s no secret that we’re on a roll, that we’re playing really well, and I think we have to be prepared for teams to not take us lightly anymore.»
Kirby Dach scored a goal and had an assist, Guhle also scored and Sam Montembeault made 41 saves in the Canadiens’ 4-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday. Rookie defenceman Lane Hutson saw his nine-game point streak (one goal, 12 assists) come to a halt. Montreal did itself no favors by allowing the first three goals of the game.
«They did the same thing to us that we did to a lot of other teams,» Dach said. «They made it hard for us to get out of our zone and we didn’t do enough on the pressure to make life uncomfortable for them.»
Dach added: «We kind of put ourselves in a disadvantageous position. I think as a group we’ve grown and matured enough to be able to turn the page, learn the lessons we need to and move forward into Saturday’s game.» The Canadiens also came out badly in the previous meeting against the Devils. New Jersey scored twice in the first period en route to a 5-3 win on Nov. 7. Jesper Bratt (two goals, one assist) and Jack Hughes (one goal, two assists) both posted three-point performances in that game for the Devils.
Captain Nico Hischier (one goal, two assists) also recorded a three-point performance as New Jersey snapped a four-game losing streak with a 5-1 win over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday. Dawson Mercer scored twice in the second period to change the pace of the game. He joined linemates Timo Meier and Justin Dowling in adding five points (two goals, three assists) on seven shots on goal.
«That line was tremendous,» Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said. «They made a lot of great changes. I think Meier and Mercer had their best game in a long time. It was important for me to try to push the third group. Having Timo there was a big part of that.»
Jake Allen is likely to return in goal, as fellow goalie Jacob Markstrom suffered a lower-body injury after Bruins forward Justin Brazeau collided with him in his crease. Goaltender Isaac Poulter was recalled from AHL affiliate Utica.
«It’s going to take some time before we get a full explanation on (Markstrom), but I talked to him and he was in good spirits,» Keefe said. «He told me he’s feeling a lot better now than he did before, so that’s positive news.»
Markstrom is expected to be sidelined for 4-6 weeks with a sprained MCL, putting the Swede’s participation in February’s 4 Nations Face-Off tournament in jeopardy.