Columbus Blue Jackets at Montreal Canadiens
December 6, 2011 – 7:30pm EST
Bell Centre – Montreal, Quebec
Radio – WBNS FM 97.1 – TV – Fox Sports Ohio
Opponents Blog: Habs Eyes On The Prize
Yep, I took three years of high school French, two years of college French, and THIS is what I’m going to go with in honor of the Jackets’ trip to Quebec. Sadly, I couldn’t find a good video of the Alec Baldwin SNL French Teacher sketch from which the title of this preview is derived.
OK, seriously, back to hockey. The Jackets got a few days off, and spent some time away from the hustle an bustle of life on the road as a professional hockey player. The Dispatch guys are thinking that we will see a radical shift in the lines, and a notable absence from Porty’s lines includes Antoine Vermette.
The Habs finally got a win on Saturday after four straight losses, and sit at .500. They’re solid on defense, but are having troubles scoring…almost as much as the Jackets do. Columbus spent some time away the past couple of days on retreat at Mont-Tremblant. Here’s hoping, after several rounds of Kumbaya around the camp fire that they’ve shrugged off Friday’s 5-goals-allowed third period in Edmonton.
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
(7-16-3, 17 Points; 5th division, 15th conference)
| Kristian Huselius | Jeff Carter | Rick Nash |
| Vinny Prospal | Ryan Johansen | R.J. Umberger |
| Derick Brassard | Mark Letestu | Derek Dorsett |
| Derek MacKenzie | Samuel Pahlsson | Jared Boll |
| Fedor Tyutin | Nikita Nikitin |
| Marc Methot | James Wisniewski |
| Grant Clitsome | Aaron Johnson |
| Curtis Sanford |
| Steve Mason |
Montreal Canadiens
(11-11-5, 27 Points; 5th Division, 10th Conference)
| Erik Cole | David Desharnais | Michael Cammalleri |
| Max Pacioretty | Tomas Plekanec | Brian Gionta |
| Andrei Kostitsyn | Lars Eller | Travis Moen |
| Mathieu Darche | Petteri Nokelainen | Louis Leblanc |
| P.K. Subban | Josh Gorges |
| Alexei Emelin | Raphael Diaz |
| Hal Gill | Yannick Weber |
| Carey Price |
| Petr Budaj |
Season Series
This is the only matchup of the season.
By The Numbers
Scoring
CBJ – 2.35 G/G (25th)
MON – 2.44 G/G (21st)Defense
CBJ – 3.27 GA/G (28th)
MON – 2.44 GA/G (t10th)Power Play
CBJ – 12.9% (25th)
MON – 12.2% (26th)Penalty Kill
CBJ – 75.3% (t28th)
MON – 89.1% (2nd)
Game Notes:
- Road Warriors – The Jackets finish their four-game Canadian roadie tonight, and are looking to salvage a .500 record. Columbus kicks off a five-game home stand on Thursday.
- The Return of the Scoring Lines? – This lineup as constructed–and this is of course QUITE THEORETICAL–finally gives Jackets fans a look at what could be considered three scoring lines. Dorse on the third line is a stretch, but have to give him credit: he’s shown more scoring ability of late, with two goals the other night in Edmonton (in fairness, one of them was while killing a penalty and was aided by an epic double-failure by an Edmonton defenseman). No Vermette is odd, however, since he’s played much better since moving to the wing on the old third line with Dorsett and Samuel Pahlsson. The third line as constructed above is intriguing. We’ll see how well they do if they’re asked to check a top line for the Habs.
- On The Other Hand… – The Habs probably won’t punish Columbus for as many mistakes as the Oil did. They just don’t have the offensive punch. So, perhaps the additional scoring punch will help Columbus?/
Ideally, I’d have liked 5+ points on this trip (two wins and at least an overtime loss), but four wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Let’s get it done, boys!