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| MONTREAL CANADIENS |
| 8–7–1 (17 points) |
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7:00 P.M. – THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17 NATIONWIDE ARENA COLUMBUS, OH |
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ESPN+ Bally Sports Ohio |
The Columbus Blue Jackets continue their longest homestand of the season Thursday with a chance to do something they haven't done in 47 straight games.
Pick up at least a point in a fourth consecutive game.
Standing in the way of that are the Montreal Canadiens, who had won three straight before a 5-1 drubbing at the hands of the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.
Here's what to keep in mind for the first of two visits Montreal will make to Columbus in the next week:
| CBJ | SEASON STATS | MTL |
|---|---|---|
| 2.87 | GOALS FOR | 2.94 |
| 4.33 | GOALS AGAINST | 3.31 |
| 10.5% | POWER PLAY | 15.9% |
| 78.6% | PENALTY KILL | 79.6% |
| 30.6 | SHOTS FOR | 30.1 |
| 36.2 | SHOTS AGAINST | 33.8 |
| 44.3% | CF% (EVEN) | 48.5% |
| 50.2% | FACEOFF % | 51.4% |
| PROJECTIONS | ||
| ODDS OF CBJ WIN PER MONEYPUCK | 44.5% | |
| ODDS OF CBJ WIN PER THE 538 | 59.0% | |
| CAESAR'S SPORTSBOOK BETTING | MTL -115 | |
| CANADIENS: LAST THREE GAMES | ||
| TUE, 11/15 | vs. NEW JERSEY | L, 5-1 |
| SAT, 11/12 | vs. OTTAWA | OTW, 5-4 |
| WED, 11/09 | vs. VANCOUVER | W, 5-2 |
| CANADIENS: TEAM LEADERS | ||
| GOALS | NICK SUZUKI | 10 |
| ASSISTS | KIRBY DACH | 10 |
| POINTS | NICK SUZUKI | 19 |
TALKING POINTS: MTL
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Josh Anderson and David Savard will be making their returns to Nationwide Arena when the Canadiens visit. It's also the first visit for first overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky, who has a stat line of 3-0-3 in the first 11 games of his NHL career. All three players are expected to be in the lineup Thursday. It'll also mark the return of Martin St. Louis, the Montreal bench boss who was briefly with the Blue Jackets as a special teams consultant during the 2018-19 season.
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Expect to see Sam Montembeault between the pipes for Montreal. While he has just five starts compared to 11 by primary netminder Jake Allen, it's Montembeault who has the better goals against average (2.38 to Allen's 3.29) and save percentage (.930 to .901). He's struggled against the Blue Jackets, though, losing all three of his starts to Columbus earlier in the 2022 calendar year.
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Montreal and Columbus are similar when it comes to having young talent that just needs time to develop. In addition to the 18-year-old Slafkovsky, the Canadiens have promising futures with 22-year-old forwards Kirby Dach (14 points in 16 games) and Cole Caufield (16 points in 16 games). Defensemen Kaiden Guhle (21 years old) and Arber Xhekaj (22) give the Montreal faithful something to be excited about, as well.
- Perhaps the most promising, though, is the 23-year-old Nick Suzuki. In his 4th NHL season, Suzuki has a stat line of 10-9-19 through the first 16 games. He's gotten better each season and is on pace for a 97 point season. Here's a fun fact: There are 198 players this season with 30+ shots on goal, and none of them put the puck in the back of the net with more accuracy than Suzuki. He has 10 goals on just 37 shots, for a shooting percentage of 27%. When Suzuki shoots, look out.
CBJ STORYLINES
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INJURIES CONTINUE TO MOUNT
The extent of Elvis Merzlikins' injury from Tuesday is not yet known, but what is known is that the Blue Jackets recalled Daniil Tarasov from Cleveland — a sign that Merzlikins is not available Thursday. Jake Bean, Emil Bemstrom, and Andrew Peeke were also banged up Tuesday. Columbus could put quite the line out there from their injured list: Zach Werenski and Adam Boqvist playing in front of Merzlikins, with Patrik Laine, Jakub Voracek, and Justin Danforth on a line. That doesn't include Nick Blankenburg, who was quickly becoming a regular on the blue line before a fractured ankle last week.
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BJORKY 2.0?
Marcus Bjork has two games under his NHL belt — and both were impressive. It wasn't just the goal in his NHL debut or the assist in his second game, either. He looked every part of an NHL defenseman and was smart both with and without the puck. With Werenski done for the season and both Boqvist and Blankenburg out several weeks, the 6'4", 24-year-old Bjork has a chance to prove that he can stick around in the NHL. With the likes of David Jiricek, Denton Mateychuk, and Corson Cuelemans all on the way, the competition is coming. Now is his chance to get ahead of it.
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KENT'S BACK — WILL IT STICK?
It's puzzling, really. Kent Johnson was back in the lineup in Tuesday's overtime victory, but saw less than ten minutes of time on ice — the 9:45 tied a season low and was the second lowest of any of his 21 career games. But he had an assist and picked up his 7th point of the season, and on that note, here's a list of qualifying players on the Blue Jackets who average more points per 60 minutes than Johnson:
1.
End of list, no typos. Johnson's 2.84 points per 60 is more than any skater on the team this year except Bemstrom, whose 2.89 has come in a limited, three-game capacity. Hockey is certainly about more than goals and assists, but this was a top five draft pick last summer. Short and sweet, he should either be playing more here, or playing big minutes in Cleveland. No one is being done any favors but having him spend 86% of the game on the bench, as he did Tuesday.PROJECTED LINES
Updated: 1:05 p.m.
Subject To Change
| LW | C | RW | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | Johnny Gaudreau | 38 | Boone Jenner | 52 | Emil Bemstrom |
| 59 | Yegor Chinakhov | 34 | Cole Sillinger | 14 | Gys Nyquist |
| 19 | Liam Foudy | 96 | Jack Roslovic | 91 | Kent Johnson |
| 50 | Eric Robinson | 7 | Sean Kuraly | 24 | Matheiu Olivier |
| LD | RD | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Vladislav Gavrikov | 47 | Marcus Bjork |
| 23 | Jake Christiansen | 44 | Eric Gudbranson |
| 15 | Gavin Bayreuther | 2 | Andrew Peeke |
| Starting Goalie | Backup | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 70 | Joonas Korpisalo | 40 | Daniil Tarasov |
