HURRICANES AT CANADIENS
Five things you should know about the Canadiens-hurricanes game at the Bell Centre on Saturday (7 p.m., City, SNE, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio), writes Pat Hickey.
1 The matchup
This is the final game of a three-game homestand and the Canadiens are hoping to salvage a win after a 4-3 overtime loss to Vancouver and a 5-2 loss to the Rangers. That left the Canadiens with an embarrassing 13-16-6 record at the Bell Centre. While the Canadiens are poised to miss the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons, the Hurricanes are very much alive despite losing to Colorado at home Friday night. They are two points behind Columbus in the battle for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, but they held two games in hand.
2 Carry on with Carey
Nobody should be surprised if Carey Price makes his 56th start of the season Saturday night. Price has missed only four games since Dec. 11 and it appears Claude Julien will keep starting him until the team is mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. The Hurricanes are missing their top two goaltenders after James Reimer (lower body injury) and Petr Mrazek (concussion) were both injured Saturday against Toronto. Carolina’s choice for this game will be between Alex Nedeljkovic (0-1-0) this season and Anton Forsberg, whose start Friday was his first NHL game since the 2017-18 season.
3 Déjà vu all over again
Have the Canadiens tuned out or are they getting the wrong message? There is a disturbing trend that has contributed to the team’s demise. In each of the past two games, the Canadiens lost after taking a 2-0 lead. The Canadiens have lost 10 times this season when leading after two periods and no other team in the league has collapsed as often.
4 Playing for a contract
Max Domi won’t match last season, when he led the Canadiens in scoring with a careerhigh 72 points. But after some inconsistent stretches, he and Phillip Danault are tied for second in team scoring with 43 points. Numbers will be important for Domi because he is in a contract year and the bargaining may be a bit tougher with his current output. He’s a restricted free agent with arbitration rights.
5 Youth will be served
The Hurricanes have the third-youngest lineup in the NHL and they are led by two youngsters. Sebastian Aho leads the Hurricanes with 36 goals — that’s the fifth-best total in the league — and 62 points. The other young sparkplug is Andrei Svechnikov, who has 24 goals and 58 points.