Game Day Notes: Montreal Canadiens at Edmonton Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers take on the Montreal Canadiens for the second and final time this season. These are your game day news, notes, and numbers leading into tonight’s game.

1. The Habs have been on a rollercoaster this season. They got off to a terrible start, dropping seven games in a row after winning their first game of the season. They’ve had a seven-game losing streak, a five-game losing streak, and a five-game winning streak. They’re currently on a two-game win streak as they beat the Vancouver Canucks 7-5 to kick off their Western swing and they beat the Calgary Flames last night 3-2.

2. At a practice, the day before playing the Flames, defenceman Joe Morrow and forward Andre Shaw got into a scrap. I wouldn’t look too far into it. The Habs, like I said, have been up and down all season, which creates high tensions on the team.

3. Tonight will mark the fifth time this season that the Habs have played on back-to-back nights. In the latter half of back-to-backs this far, Montreal is 2-2-1. The beat the Red Wings and Blackhawks but lost to the Rangers and Kings and the Predators in a shootout.

4. Since Carey Price returned from injury back on Nov. 22, the Habs are 8-3-1. He’s started all of the games in that stretch and has posted a .927 save percentage. Before going on the Injured Reserve, Price had an ugly .877 save percentage in his first 11 games of the season. The last time he faced the Oilers back on Dec. 9, Price allowed four goals on 14 shots and was pulled in favour of Antti Niemi.

5. Niemi will make his first start since Nov. 22 tonight. The last time he made a start, he stopped 31 of 33 shots in a shootout loss against the Nashville Predators. He’s been all over the place this season, starting as Pittsburgh’s backup, getting claimed off waivers by Florida, then getting claimed by Montreal. All told, Niemi has played in eight games (four starts) this season and owns a .856 save percentage. The last time he saw action was in relief of Price against the Oilers earlier this month. He stopped 24 of 26 shots that night.

6. The Habs rank 23rd in the league in goals for. Phillip Danault currently leads the team in scoring with 21 points in 35 games, while Brendan Gallagher and Paul Byron are the only players on the team with 10 or more goals. Alex Galchenyuk, Max Pacioretty, and Jonathan Drouin, who are supposed to be the team’s big gunners, have combined for just 21 goals thus far.

7. Shea Weber has been shut down due to a foot injury and has missed the last two games. He leads the Canadiens in average time on ice, and in his absence Jeff Petry has stepped up and filled Montreal’s No. 1 defenceman void, averaging ~25 minutes in the last two games. It’s going to be incredibly difficult for Montreal to contain Edmonton’s three scoring lines without Weber in the lineup.

8. Like the Oilers, Montreal has struggled on special teams this season. The Habs rank 18th with an 18.3 power play percentage and 26th with a 77.4 penalty kill percentage. The Oilers are 26th with a 16.3 power play percentage and 30th with a 73.2 penalty kill percentage. Both teams have been better at even strength than on special teams thus far, as the Oilers and Habs rank third and ninth respectively in the league in expected goals for percentage based on shot volume.

9. Montreal is 8-4-2 when scoring first and they’re 8-11-2 when the other team scores first. Edmonton is successful when they score first, owning a 9-3-1 record, but they don’t score first often enough as the 13 times they’ve scored first is the fewest among all 31 NHL teams.

10. If Edmonton wins tonight, they’ll be at .500 for the first time since the second game of the season. I mean, based on points percentage, they’re technically .500, but people generally view .500 based on wins and regulation losses. Oddly enough, overtime losses are kind of thrown out in that situation. Regardless, if the Oilers win, they’ll be just three points behind the Flames heading into the Christmas break.