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Thursday, December 2, 2021

Colorado Avalanche at Canadiens: Five things you should know - Montreal Gazette

Jake Allen has been red-hot in his last two starts for the Habs, but only one of the games produced a victory.

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Here are five things you should know about the Canadiens-Avalanche game at Bell Centre Thursday (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM):

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The matchup:  The Canadiens will have the edge in rest because they haven’t played since they lost 2-1 to Vancouver Monday, while the Avalanche will be playing the second half of a back-to-back set after opening a five-game road trip Wednesday in Toronto. The Canadiens are off to the worst start in their history with a 6-16-2 record and only Ottawa and Arizona have worse winning percentages. Colorado has an 11-6-1 record. The Avs are sixth in the Central Division, but enjoy multiple games in hand on all the teams above them in the standings.

The goalies:  Jake Allen has been red-hot in his last two starts, but only one of the games produced a victory. He made 47 saves in Pittsburgh Saturday as the Canadiens defeated the Penguins 6-3. He followed that with a 40-save performance Monday, but he didn’t get any offensive support and two defensive mistakes led to the Vancouver goals. He has a 5-10-1 record with a 2.96 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage. The Canadiens tend to see a lot of backup goaltenders and that trend should continue because the Avalanche’s No. 1 goaltender, Darcy Kuemper, got the start in Toronto. That means the Canadiens will probably see Jonas Johansson, who has a 2-1-1 record with a 2.92 GAA and a .911 save percentage.

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Poehling gets a promotion:  After starting the season in Laval, Ryan Poehling is establishing himself as a full-time NHL player at both ends of the ice. Head coach Dominique Ducharme rewarded his work Monday, when he gave Poehling some power-play time. He also moved Jonathan Drouin to left wing on Poehling’s line and the move paid off when Poehling went to the net and redirected a pass from Drouin for his fourth goal in 10 games. Poehling has a plus-1 rating, which is impressive on a team that ranks 31st in team defence.

A Mooseheads reunion:  Ducharme was the coach of the Halifax Mooseheads when they won the Memorial Cup in 2013 and the leading scorer on that team was Drouin. The other standout player on that team was homegrown talent Nathan MacKinnon, who has had a stellar career with the Avalanche. MacKinnon was off to a hot start this season, with one goal and nine assists in eight games, before he suffered a lower-body injury. He was back in the lineup in Toronto. Montreal might have some injured players returning. Ducharme said defencemen Chris Wideman and Brett Kulak and forward Mathieu Perreault are possibilities.

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Kadri, Makar stepping up:  Nazem Kadri is picking up some of the slack in McKinnon’s absence and he’s on pace for a career season. He has seven goals and 20 assists in 18 games and was selected as one of the NHL’s three stars for November. Kadri had a career-high 61 points with the Maple Leafs in 2016-17. Defenceman Cale Makar is the team leader in goals with nine and he’s also on pace for a career season, with 20 points in 16 games. He was one of the NHL’s three stars last week and had goals in five consecutive games. Makar won the Hobey Baker Trophy as the best college player in the U.S. at UMass-Amherst in 2019 and, a year later, he won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie.

phickey@postmedoa.com

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