Struggling Montreal Canadiens Visit Red Hot Buffalo Sabres

If it’s business as usual in Quebec on Nov. 11, in the USA Veterans Day is a national holiday meaning our neighbours to the south can enjoy some daytime hockey featuring the Montreal Canadiens and the Buffalo Sabres.

The Canadiens lost their sixth game in a row on Saturday night as they were dominated by the Toronto Maple Leafs while the Sabres signed a third consecutive win by beating the Calgary Flames in the shootout.

During Saturday night’s game, Martin St-Louis mixed up his lines a bit, promoting Juraj Slafkovsky back to the first line and dropping Cole Caufield to the second one. He also returned Kaiden Guhle to the left side of defense on the second pairing with David Savard and put rookie Lane Hutson on his off side on the first pairing with Mike Matheson. The game was already lost by then though and the changes had very little impact.

Related: Gallagher Keeps Climbing But Canadiens Keep Losing

Yesterday at practice, it looked like the pilot had decided to stay the course as the lines and pairings were as follows:

Kirby Dach-Nick Suzuki-Slafkovsky
Caufield-Jake Evans-Alex Newhook
Josh Anderson-Christian Dvorak-Brendan Gallagher
Emil Heineman-Lucas Condotta-Joel Armia

Guhle-Matheson
Hutson-Savard
Arber Xhekaj-Jayden Stuble

Perhaps St-Louis feels he hasn’t seen enough of those combination in the last game, but considering how poorly Suzuki, Slafkovsky and Caufield have performed since being split up, and the fact the split has not resulted in another true top six line emerging, perhaps it’s time to go back to a proven formula.

I understand why he feels the need to give Dach some time on the wing, but since it has not worked on the captain’s wing so far, why not put him on Evans’ wing? While he may not be a “real top six center” according to most people, the truth of the matter is, he’s played better than the other options. Furthermore, he has made Newhook much more visible of late, who’s to say he wouldn’t do the same with Dach?

Samuel Montembeault has been in net for the last four games and has lost them all. Cayden Primeau hasn’t seen any action since Halloween when he backstopped the Canadiens to a 6-3 loss against the Washington Capitals.

St-Louis confirmed at yesterday’s practice the net would be Primeau’s today. The 25-year-old has only taken on the Sabres once in his career so far, winning the game and posting a 1.86 goals-against average and a .958 save percentage. If there was ever a day where the backup needs to perform well, this is it.

Related: Canadiens: Lane Hutson Has Got a Fan Overseas

As for the Sabres, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is having a great season so far and has been on a hot streak lately as Mike Augello reported Saturday. It’s been a lot more complicated for backup and Dollard-des-Ormeaux native Devon Levi. The 22-year-old has got a single win in four games played. He has a 3.91 goals-against average and a .878 save percentage.

Both of the hosts’ goaltenders have a great record against the Habs however. Luukkonen has taken on Montreal once and won the game, posting a 2.00 GAA and a .936, and Levi has a 1-0-1 record with a 1.44 GAA and a .953 SP.

Up front, Tage Thompson, J.J. Peterka and Rasmus Dahlin are all in the midst of a three-game point streak. Thompson leads the team in points with 17 in 15 games. Two Sabres are point-per-game players against the Canadiens, Thompson has 14 points in 12 games, and Alex Tuch has 14 points in as many games. The Sabres’ quarterback Dahlin also liked taking on Montreal, he picked up 14 points in 17 games.

Meanwhile, there’s only one streak going in Montreal (individually at least, since the losing streak doesn’t count here); Gallagher’s three goals in as many games. He’s also the team’s most productive player against the divisional rivals with 22 points in 39 games. David Savard is in second place with 12 points in 28 games and former Sabres first-round pick Joel Armia is third with 11 points in 17 games. Suzuki only has seven points in 13 games while Caufield has four in 10 match ups.

The Canadiens have played the Sabres 296 times so far and it’s always been a battle, and Montreal has a 129-117-31-19 record. The teams have split the last 10 meetings, winning five each, but the Buffalo outfit has won the last two duels, outscoring the Canadiens 9-3. Since today’s a bank holiday in the USA, the game is set for 12:30 PM, and will be shown on TSN 2 and RDS.

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