The Montreal Canadiens are headed to Washington to take on the Capitals and Alex Ovechkin tonight.
Throughout the course of a season, there are a lot of media availabilities with the Montreal Canadiens' coach and sometimes, it feels like the same things are being said over and over, but not yesterday. Martin St-Louis had some interesting things to say after practice, and it wasn't just about today's lineup.
For the bench boss, whatever happens on the ice, win or lose, he wants his team to turn the page over and focus about the next game. Listening to him, it sounds like every game is a different chapter and once one's over, you move on to the next one. That's definitely an interesting way to approach the grind of an 82-game season and a great way to get players to move on from previous mistakes.
Speaking about some of his young defenders, he mentioned he's not asking the same thing from each of them. It depends on what their strong suit is, for instance, he mentioned that Kaiden Guhle is asked to make sure he makes a great first pass in transition while Lane Hutson is asked to win his one-on-one battles in the defensive zone.
In other words, the coaching staff is tailoring its approach to fit the player. Guhle has already got a strong defensive base and they hope to make him a more complete player by putting the emphasis on the offensive side of the game. The same goes for Hutson, but his base if offensive so the focus is on defensive actions.
Tonight, for the fourth game in a row, the Canadiens will be without Patrik Laine and David Savard. So far they've won two games and lost one without the pair of veterans. In net, Jakub Dobes will make the third start of his young career and once again, it will be against a top team. The Washington Capitals are currently second in the league and so far this season, the Canadiens have lost both duels with them. A 6-3 hammering in October and a more respectable 4-2 loss in early December.
Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield have good numbers against Alexander Ovechkin's team, the captain has 17 points in 14 games while the sniper has 11 points in 10 matches. Brendan Gallagher (13 points in 29 games) and Mike Matheson (13 points in 26 games) complete the top four production wise.
The last time the Canadiens took on the Caps, sniper extraordinaire Ovechkin was still injured, but he's now back in action and has resume his hunt for Wayne Gretzky's goal scoring record. He now has 872 lamplighters to his name and needs just 22 to tie the Great One. When he faced Montreal on Halloween night, he scored a goal and added an assist. In 59 games against Montreal, the Russian marksman has picked up 70 points, including 39 goals.
John Carlson is the Caps' second most productive player against the Habs with 26 points in 43 games. Pierre-Luc Dubois comes in third place with 23 points in 26 duels and Tom Wilson, the star of the last tilt between the two sides, has 19 points in 27 games.
Charlie Lindgren and Logan Thompson have each played one game against Montreal this season, both winning their duel. The former Hab has a 3-1-0 record with 2.80 goals-against average and a .888 save percentage. As for Thompson, his December outing against the Tricolore was the first of his career, meaning he's got a 2.00 GAA and a .917 save percentage.
The Capitals have won seven of the last 10 duels between the two teams including the last three games. Montreal's last triumph over the Caps was in Washington in February 2024. It will be interesting to see if this new and improved version of the young Canadiens can put a stop to its losing streak against the hosts who have had issues of late.
Tonight's tilt will be the 183rd between the two sides and the Canadiens have got a 83-73-17-9 record. After the game, the Habs will fly back to Montreal as they are facing the Dallas Stars tomorrow at the Bell Centre.
