HabsCast Hockey Blog

The Canadiens are on a four game win streak and they will try to continue their winning ways when they play host to the Atlanta Thrashers on Tuesday night. After playing 2 games in 24 hours, the Canadiens came out with 4 points, defeating both the Hurricanes and Penguins. The Canadiens played very well against the Hurricanes, scoring a season high 7 goals as they went on to win by a score of 7-4. On Saturday, it seemed like this scoring trend would continue as they had a 3-0 lead early in the second period, however, the Penguins made a strong comeback to force a shootout. The Canadiens won that game in a sudden death shootout with Andrei Markov scoring the winner to give the Habs a 4-3 victory.

Although the Canadiens won both games it’s apparent that they cannot hold a lead. The Canadiens on their 2 game stand showed the league that they are a team that could put pucks in the net, however, they have also demonstrated that they can let them in just as easy, especially in the third period. The Canadiens can’t just sit back on a lead because if they do they will just let their opponents come storming back. They must learn to continue to pressure the puck and not give their opponents chances because on Saturday this is exactly what occurred.

This game is a must win for the Canadiens, considering that the Thrashers are currently tied for last place in the NHL and are the worst in the East Conference. They’ve been playing a bit better since they fired Bob Hartley but I don’t think that it will do them any good on Tuesday night. The Thrasher have only won 3 games and scored 24 goals in their 11 games played. Although they do have firepower in Ilya Kovalchuck and Marian Hossa, the Canadiens have been playing solid defensively and containing them shouldn’t pose a problem. The big story going into this game, however, is the powerplay of the Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens are leading the NHL on the PP with a 30.4% success rate and 35.7% during in their last 4 games. So the key for the Thrashers in this game should be to stay out of the sin bin if they want a good chance of winning against the Canadiens.

Guy Carbonneau is going to go with Carey Price for a second game in a row, giving Cristobal Huet some more rest. Carey Price had 20 saves against the Penguins but shut them down in the shootout by not allowing any goals. Here is the projected lineup against the Thrashers for Tuesday night’s game:

Forwards
Higgins - Koivu - Ryder
Latendresse - Plekanec- Kovalev
Kostitsyn - Smolinski - Dandenault
Begin - Chipchura - Kostopoulos

Defence
Markov - Komisarek
Hamrlik - Brisebois
Bouillon - Streit

Goaltender
Price

The line that I’ve been most impressed with of late is that of Begin-Chipchura-Kostopolous. These guys have been playing excellent hockey night in, night out. Dandenault is the player I’ve been most impressed with because he hustles. This is the way hockey should be played and he’s being awarded for it. These lines aren’t official but I believe they will be identical to Saturday night’s game. The only possible changes I see occurring is Kostitsyn/Grabovski and Brisebois/Gorges. The rest of the lines should stay the same.

Prediction: Canadiens 6, Atlanta 2

I think the Canadiens will be too much for the Thrashers, especially if they’re on the powerplay alot. This Thrashers team is not the same edition as last years and Marian Hossa has been extremely cold of late. Let’s just hope he doesn’t start to heat up against us on Tuesday.

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