Canadiens Game 41: Hoffman Returns, Reverse Retro Curse

The Montreal Canadiens (16-21-3) will look to keep the good times rolling as they host the Seattle Kraken (22-12-4) on Tuesday night. The puck drop is scheduled for 730 PM ET.

After finally halting their losing streak to seven games with a much-needed win over the St. Louis Blues, the Canadiens will be looking to string along a couple of wins for the first time since November 25.

After a difficult string of games during their never-ending road trip, the Canadiens have begun to play a more structured and organized game since coming back home. Veterans that have failed to deliver in the first half of the season have also seemed to have found their game of late, especially Jonathan Drouin and Joel Armia, whom didn’t yet have a goal so far this season when the world was welcomed to 2023.

Over the last two games, we’ve seen the likes of Armia, Drouin and Evgenii Dadonov provide some secondary scoring for the team, and it helped seemingly helped take some pressure off of Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, who had their best game in a long while against the Blues on Saturday.

They’ll also look to finally break the “Reverse Retro” curse, as they haven’t won a game so far this season, or over the last 24 months with their alternate jerseys.

Despite superstitions, the Canadiens will have their hands full with the Seattle Kraken, who have to be the most pleasant surprise in the NHL this season. The NHL’s newest club is firmly in a playoff spot in the Western Conference playoff race, led by an impressive resurgence from Andrei Burakovsky and Jordan Eberle and the emergence of Calder trophy favourite Matty Beniers.

The Kraken’s top line has been excessively dangerous and effective, with Beniers and Eberle leading the team in expected goals (52.6% xGF%) different and possession numbers (52.6% CF).

Vince Dunn has also seemed to have found his groove in Washington state, as he’s quickly emerged as the club’s top offensive defenceman with six goals and 20 assists in just 38 games; just nine points away from his career high of 35 points.

Seattle’s Achilles Heel this season has undoubtedly been their goaltending, as both Martin Jones and Philipp Grubauer find themselves sub .900 save percentages. Despite that, Jones still has an impressive 18-5-3 record for the Kraken, which shows how well the team has been playing in front of him.

Montreal Canadiens Injuries

• Kaiden Guhle (8 weeks)
• Brendan Gallagher (2 weeks)
• Mike Matheson (2 weeks)
• Sean Monahan (2 weeks)
• Carey Price (LTIR)
• Paul Byron (LTIR)

Seattle Kraken Injuries 

• Chris Driedger (IR)
• Joonas Donskoi

Montreal Canadiens Projected Lineup

Seattle Kraken Projected Lineup

Burakovsky-Beniers-Eberle

Schwartz-Wennberg-McCann

Tolvanen-Gourde-Bjorkstrand

Tanev-Geekie-Sprong

Defence:

Larsson-Dunn

Oleksiak-Schultz

Soucy-Borgen

Goalies:

Jones

Grubauer

Special Teams

Game Notes:

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