The Montreal Canadiens (4-4-0) and their suffocating penalty killing defense are on the road to face the St. Louis Blues (3-3-0), one of the NHL’s weakest power play offenses, at Enterprise Center on Saturday. Montreal is coming off a 3-2 win over the Sabres on Thursday. The Canadiens committed four penalties in the game, conceding one power play goal. Josh Anderson, Brendan Gallagher, and Kaiden Guhle each scored once for the Canadiens.
Anderson added an assist to share the scoring lead with David Savard, who had two assists. Sam Montembeault had a great performance with 43 saves (.955%) in the win. St. Louis is playing the first of four games at home after a 6-2 loss against the Predators on Thursday, their third straight defeat. Robert Thomas and Brayden Schenn both scored once for the Blues. Justin Faulk had two assists to lead the team in scoring. Thomas Greiss saved only 36 of 41 shots against (.878%) in the loss.
HEAD TO HEAD
The teams split their two meetings last season, the last of which was a 3-2 (OT) victory for the Canadiens in February. Cole Caufield (2G 0A) and Jeff Petry (0G 2A) each had two points to lead Montreal. Pavel Buchnevich led St. Louis with two points (1G 1A). Montembeault got the win, saving 25 of 27 shots (.925%).
FACING OFF
Montreal is averaging 2.50 goals per game so far this season, 29th in the NHL, and they are taking on a Blues team that is allowing 3.00 goals a game (12th). Meanwhile, St. Louis has found the net 2.33 times a game on average, 30th in the league, and the Canadiens are allowing opponents to score 2.88 goals per game (11th).
The Canadiens’ 31st-ranked power play offense (4.17%) will be put to the test against the Blues, who are the league’s fourth-best penalty killing team (92.31%). St. Louis, meanwhile, has scored on 26.67% of their power play opportunities (8th), which the hosts will be seeking to build on against Montreal’s ninth-ranked 84.00% penalty killing rate.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Caufield (5G 2A) and Nick Suzuki (3G 4A) are the top skaters for the Canadiens this season with seven points each. Caufield is among the league leaders in goals (8th). In the net, Montembeault (2-1-0) is Montreal’s top goaltender by goals against average. He has a 2.32 GAA and a .931% save percentage. Jake Allen (2-3-0) leads the Canadiens in games played in goal.
He has a GAA of 2.63 and a save percentage of .917%.Faulk and Schenn lead the Blues in scoring with seven points apiece. Faulk has three goals and four assists, while Schenn has two goals and five assists in six games. Jordan Binnington (3-1-0) has the best goals against average for St. Louis at 1.74, third-best in the league. He has a save percentage of .936%, fourth-best.
HOME AND AWAY
Montreal is 1-2-0 away from Bell Centre this season. St. Louis is 1-1-0 at Enterprise Center this season.
SportsTips’ NHL Pick:
St.Louis Blues (-350)
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*Odds correct at time of publication, courtesy of BetMGM.
