Here are five things you should know about Saturday’s game between the Canadiens (26-33-6) and New Jersey Devils (42-16-6) at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., SNE, CITY, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).
Coming up just short: The Canadiens are on a five-game winless streak (0-3-2) with all five losses by one goal, including the last two in shootouts. “We could have been 5-0 in that stretch,” goalie Samuel Montembeault said after Thursday’s 4-3 shootout loss to the New York Rangers, in which he stopped 30 of the 33 shots he faced. “I think we’re playing well, everybody’s competing. The bounces are going to go our way soon, but I’m just really proud of the effort of the guys.” Jake Allen will start in goal Saturday for the Canadiens, who are in 27th place in the overall NHL standings.
Standing alone: Christian Dvorak missed Thursday’s game with a lower-body injury, meaning captain Nick Suzuki is the only Canadien to play in all 65 games this season. Suzuki was the only Canadien to play in all 82 games last season, something only 45 players in the NHL were able to accomplish. Suzuki leads the Canadiens in scoring with 21-28-49 totals. The team has 11 players on their injured list: forwards Dvorak, Brendan Gallagher, Juraj Slafkovsky, Cole Caufield, Joel Armia, Jake Evans, Kirby Dach and Sean Monahan, along with defencemen Jordan Harris, Justin Barron and Arber Xhekaj. Goalie Carey Price and forward Paul Byron have been on long-term injured reserve since the start of the season.
Injury updates: The Canadiens provided some injury updates after Thursday’s game. Gallagher will be out for another 3-4 weeks with a lower-body injury, meaning his season is probably over after posting 4-5-9 totals in 25 games. He hasn’t played since Jan. 3. Dach, who has already missed 11 games, will be out indefinitely with a lower-body injury, while Xhekaj is expected to be ready for training camp next season after having shoulder surgery on March 1.
Another goal for Belzile: Alex Belzile scored a goal in a third straight game against the Rangers, giving him 4-6-10 totals in 19 games since being called up from the AHL’s Laval Rocket. The 31-year-old hadn’t scored in the 13 NHL games he had played before this season. Head coach Martin St. Louis used Belzile in the shootout against the Rangers, but he failed to score. The forward is playing on a one-year, two-way contract that pays him US$750,000 in the NHL and US$275,000 in the AHL. Belzile had 14-12-26 totals in 31 games with the Rocket.
What a difference a year makes: New Jersey is coming off a 3-2 shootout win over the Capitals Thursday in Washington. The Devils are third in the overall NHL standings and already have 27 more points than they did at the end of last season, when they finished 28th in the overall standings with a 27-46-9 record. Jack Hughes leads the Devils in scoring with 36-40-76 totals, followed by Dougie Hamilton (18-43-61) and Nico Hischier (27-32-59).
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