Montreal Canadiens

Game 60: Montreal Canadiens vs Arizona Coyotes Lines, Preview

Published

2 years ago

March 15, 2022

The Montreal Canadiens (16-35-8, 40 pts) will kick off a six-game homestand against the resurgent Arizona Coyotes (19-36-4, 42 pts), at the Bell Centre Tuesday night (7:00 PM ET, RDS, TSN2).

The Montreal Canadiens will be looking to avenge a 5-2 loss to the Coyotes back on Jan. 17 in Arizona. There have been plenty of changes for both teams since then though, and they both come into this tilt in Montreal playing much better than when they met almost two months ago.

The day after that loss in Arizona, the Montreal Canadiens announced that they had hired Kent Hughes as their general manager. Since then, Hughes went on to replace head coach Dominique Ducharme with Martin St. Louis as interim head coach on Feb. 9 with the team mired in an 0-5-2 stretch. Since St. Louis took over the bench though, the Habs are 8-6-1 and come into this game on the heels of a thrilling come-from-behind 4-3 overtime over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday.

The Coyotes meanwhile, come into the game with a record of 5-1-0 in the month of March. After their 5-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night, the Yotes have now outscored their opponents 32-16 in their last six games.

Samuel Montembeault will make his fifth straight start for the Montreal Canadiens. Montembeault is 7-12-5 with a 3.60 GAA and .897 save percentage.

Karel Vejmelka is expected to get the nod between the pipes for the Coyotes. Vejmelka is 9-22-1 with a 3.37 GAA and .905 save percentage.

Montreal Canadiens Notes

-Cole Caufield scored the overtime winner and had a an assist as well on Sunday. He now has six goals and nine assists in his last ten games.

-Nick Suzuki scored two goals on Sunday and now has five goals and four assists in his last five games.

-Joel Edmundson will be back patrolling the blue line tonight and Ben Chiarot will sit up top as he awaits to be traded.

Arizona Coyotes Notes

-Nick Schmaltz and Clayton Keller come in on five-game point streaks and have combined for 26 points (9g, 17a) during that stretch. Schmaltz has also chipped in 24 points (12-12-24) himself in his last 12 games, which is tied for sixth in the League since Feb. 9. Keller has been racking up points with 11 (3g, 8a) over his five-game point streak and has been held off the scoresheet just twice in his last 19 games.

-Coyotes defenseman and arguably the most-coveted player on the NHL Trade market, Jakub Chychrun, is out 2-4 weeks with a knee injury.

Montreal Canadiens Lines:

Forwards

Cole Caufield-Nick Suzuki-Josh Anderson

Mike Hoffman – Rem Pitlick – Brendan Gallagher

Paul Byron- Jake Evans- Micheal Pezzetta

Artturi Lehkonen – Ryan Poehling -Joel-Armia

Note: Lehkonen is a gametime decision.

Defence:

Joel Edmundson – Jeff Petry

Alexander Romanov – Brett Kulak

Corey Schueneman – Chris Wideman