Expect both Habs goaltenders to see action this weekend
Julien not tipping his hand as to who will get start in St. Louis and Minnesota
ST. LOUIS Canadiens coach Claude Julien plans to use both his goalies this weekend, but he wasn’t saying after practice Friday in Brossard which order they will play.
The Canadiens flew to St. Louis after practice for the start of a busy weekend with road games against the Blues on Saturday (3 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio) and the Minnesota Wild on Sunday (5 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio).
Julien said he wasn’t hiding anything from the media or fans by not announcing his goalie assignments, but instead wanted to keep the Blues guessing whether they will face Carey Price or Keith Kinkaid.
You’d have to think Julien will want to use Price — who is coming off a 17-save shutout in Thursday night’s 4-0 win over Minnesota — against the Stanley Cup-champion Blues and then play Kinkaid against the Wild, who have the worst record in the NHL at 1-6-0.
Julien got a bit of a scare during Friday’s practice when Kinkaid took a shot off the hand and had to leave the ice. He returned shortly after and told reporters after practice that he’s good to play one of the games this weekend.
The Canadiens (3-2-2) played their best game so far this season last Saturday when they beat the Blues 6-3 at the Bell Centre.
“We want to keep rolling, we want to get on a winning streak,” Kinkaid told reporters after practice. “So it starts with St. Louis tomorrow and then on to Minnesota. We just got to be prepared to give it our best. St. Louis probably wants to get us back after the little winning that we had there. They’re a great team, especially in their building, so we just got to be prepared to play our game.”
Price improved his record to 3-21 with a 2.79 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage with his first shutout of the season against the Wild.
Kinkaid has only played one game this season, losing 5-4 to the Sabres in Buffalo, and has a 4.93 goals-against average with a .872 save percentage.
The Canadiens did a lot of things well against Minnesota, including killing off all five power plays the Wild had.
Penalty-killing has been a problem for the Canadiens early in the season and after Thursday’s game they ranked 25th in the NHL with a 69.6 per cent success rate.
The power play, which was a big problem for the Canadiens last season — when they ranked 30th in the NHL with a 13.2 per cent success rate, has been much improved this season, ranking 11th in the NHL after Thursday’s game with a 23.1 per cent success rate.
Joel Armia scored his team-leading fourth goal of the season — and his second on the power play — in Thursday’s win over the Wild as the Canadiens went 1-for-5 with the man advantage.
After this weekend, the Canadiens will enjoy a three-day break in the schedule before facing the San Jose Sharks Thursday at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio).