Canadiens: Hosting Desperate Sabres – Yahoo Sports

The Montreal Canadiens have lost their last two games but that’s nothing that what their opponents tonight are going through. The Buffalo Sabres came to town after having lost their last 10 games (0-7-3) and are desperate to find their way out of the funk.

You have to go back to Nov. 23 to find the last W on the Sabres’ calendar and it was against the San Jose Sharks. Yesterday morning, the Sabres were at the Bell Centre, but they held a meeting behind closed doors and then cancelled their practice. It will be interesting to see if the strategy pays off.

It’s been reported that owner Terry Pegula and GM Kevyn Adams took part in said meeting, their message essentially being they believed the solution to be in the room and the players should not expect a big trade. As is often the case in times of crisis, the owner gave a vote of confidence to his coach and GM.

The Sabres’ brass being prudent before pulling the trigger on a deal is perfectly understandable considering how many players they’ve shipped away only to see lift Lord Stanley’s mug elsewhere not so long after,

The Canadiens have already played the Sabres’ once this season, back on Nov. 11 when Montreal claimed a 7-5 win in what was anything but a goaltending battle with all four goaltenders taking part. It was a much needed win for the Habs who had not won in six games before landing in Buffalo. The tables have now turned.

After the Canadiens’ practice, Samuel Montembeault confirmed he would be manning the net tonight for a seventh consecutive game, he added he’s good to go and eager to play as many games as he can. Judging by the Habs first 30 games, he should have a very heavy workload until the end of the year. The goaltender has faces the Sabres eight times in his career so far and has only won three of those games. He has a 3.34 goals-against average and a .899 save percentage.

Related: Canadiens Must Be Careful Not To Overload Montembeault

Recently recalled Devon Levi was on duty during the Sabres’ last game, a 5-3 loss against the Toronto Maple Leafs, so we’re likely to see number one goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in net tonight. The former has played the Canadiens three times and has a 2.09 GAA and a .926 SP while the latter has taken them on twice. Luukkonen has great stats against the Habs prior to last game’s disaster and his GAA against Montreal now stands at 3.61 while his save percentage is at .878.

Up front, Brendan Gallagher leads the team in points against Buffalo with 23 in 40 games, but it’s worth noting the first line had a field day during the last game between the two sides. Captain Nick Suzuki got four points, bringing his total to 11 in 14 games, sniper Cole Caufield notched a pair of goals to give him six points in 11 game and Juraj Slafkovsky picked up three helpers, his first three against Buffalo in six games.

On the other side, Alex Tuch leads the way with 16 points in 15 games against Montreal, followed by Jason Zucker with 15 points in 20 games and Tage Thomson who has 15 in 13 games.

The Canadiens won six of the last 10 games between the two teams and Buffalo coach is desperately hoping his side can win this one. After 10 losses in a row, coach Lindy Ruff said:

“I’m almost lost for words, obviously. […] It’s on me to solve this. […] This is the toughest solve I’ve been around, but it’s on me to get these guys in the right place to win a hockey game. Nobody else, just me.”

The last time the Canadiens took on a team struggling and on a long losing streak, it was the New York Rangers and Montreal turned out to be just what the doctor ordered for them. The Blueshirts ran away with a 4-3 win on a power play marker when there was less than a minute left (let’s not go back on the fact there was a missed penalty call on the sequence) . Martin St-Louis will no doubt be hoping for a different story this time around, while Ruff would settle for a win, any kind of win.

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