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Paul Byron of the Montreal Canadiens skates against Brandon Carlo of the Boston Bruins during the second period at TD Garden on October 27, 2018 in Boston.
Maddie Meyer / Getty Images
Here are five things to know about the Washington DC Capitals game at the Bell Center on Thursday (19h30, TSN2, RDS, radio TSN 690):
The game: It's still a game back for the Canadians, who have just lost 4-1 at home against the Dallas Stars Tuesday. The team has adopted the motto that good teams do not lose two in a row and they have followed their first four losses this season with victories while forging a 6-3-2 record. They will face a difficult task against the Capitals, defending Stanley Cup champions, who boast of the No. 2 NHL offense. The Caps produce 3.8 goals per game, but they are 5-3-2 and come off the playoffs, as their defense is the seventh worst in the league (3.6 goals per game).
Go back quickly, Paul: According to Canadiens head coach Claude Julien, the good news is that Paul Byron's lower body injury in Tuesday's defeat is not serious. The bad news is that it is unlikely that Byron will face the Capitals and that the Canadian will miss his speed on failure before and on the penalty spot. Andrew Shaw will take the place of Byron in the formation and Julien will juggle with his lines. The most important could be the creation of the Finnish connection with rookie Jesperi Kotkaniemi playing between compatriots Artturi Lehkonen and Joel Armia. Julien wants Armia and Lehkonen to score a few goals.
Special teams must be better: The unit that kills the Canadians' penalty shootout conceded another goal in Tuesday's loss and a goal came seconds after the penalty kicked out. Montreal ranks 18th in punishment. Brendan Gallagher suggested that the Canadiens might have been unruly against Dallas and can not afford to make that mistake against the Capitals, who have the NHL's most productive power play, taking advantage of 37, 1% of their chances. The Canadian also conceded a shorthanded goal and was found empty in four power games. The Montreal power play is number 21 (16.3%).
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Goalkeepers: The match against goalkeepers features two Vezina Trophy winners, although one of them is fighting in the and we are happy to announce that it is not Carey Price. Braden Holtby, who was the NHL's top goaltender in 2016, can thank the Washington offense for his 4-2-1 record because the rest of his numbers are not very good. He has a goals against average of 3.41 and a save percentage of 0.888. Price, still trying to regain the form that won the Vezina and Hart in 2015, is 4-2-2 with an average of 2.24 and a respectable, but not spectacular, 0.915 SP.
Ovechkin has the Montreal number: The Canadiens defense will focus on the stoppage of Alex Ovechkin, who has 27 goals and 22 badists in 45 games against Montreal. The NHL's first scorer, he has won the Richard Trophy seven times, including five times in the last six years. He has eight goals and six badists this season. The table mate, Evgeny Kuznetsov, is the top scorer with 15 points, including five goals. Former Canadian Lars Eller and Devante Smith-Pelly leave slowly. Eller has one goal and four badists while Smith-Pelly has a goal and an badist.
Phickey@postmedia.com
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