Columbus Blue Jackets at Montreal Canadiens
Tuesday, March 12, 2024 – 7PM ET
Bell Centre, Montreal, QC
TV: Bally’s Sports Ohio – Radio: WBNS FM
Opponent’s Blog – Habs Eyes on the Prize
Columbus Blue Jackets, 22-32-10, 54 points, 8th Metro, 16th East
@
Montreal Canadiens, 24-30-10, 58 points, 7th Atlantic, 14th East
The Columbus Blue Jackets travel to the heart of Quebec to take on the Montreal Canadiens tonight. The Jackets are hitting the road on the heels of a 2-2 week that saw them beat the Edmonton Oilers at home but also lose yet again in PPG Paints Arena to a disappointing Pittsburgh Penguins team. The Blue Jackets are a land of contrasts. Meanwhile, the Canadiens have lost two straight after falling on Hockey Night in Canada to the Toronto Maple Leafs. One team willl get back to the wins column tonight – can it be Columbus?
Player to Watch
Nick Suzuki
Nick Suzuki may not be a prototypical number one center in the NHL, but the Canadiens’ captain is putting together a career season at age 23. He has posted a 25-36-61 statlne in 64 games this year and is on pace to blow past his career high of 66 points (set last season). Suzuki is beginning to make the leap the Canadiens’ organization hoped he would when he signed his eight year extension and, if he continues his progression, will be a value contract in the coming years.
Game Notes
The Montreal Canadiens solved their logjam at goaltender by trading Jake Allen, leaving their tandem for the rest of the year to Samuel Montembeault and Cayden Primeau … The Canadiens have allowed the most short-handed goals in the NHL this season … the Canadiens matched the Matthews line with the Suzuki line on Saturday and Canadiens controlled 77.3% of xG and a 68.7% Corsi, the young players rewarding their coach for the trust in a tough matchup … Kent Johnson had surgery on Thursday to repair his torn labrum and will miss six months, but should be ready for training camp … Adam Fantilli, because of his injury status, was ineligible to be papered to Cleveland for the playoffs … Elvis Merzlikins has a .918 SV% and a 2.63 GAA since February 23
Season Series
10/26/2023 CBJ 3 @ MTL 4 (OT)
11/29/2023 MTL 4 @ CBJ 2
03/12/2024 CBJ @ MTL
Stats
| Montreal | Columbus | |
| 2.75 (27) | GPG | 2.97 (21) |
| 3.48 (27) | GAPG | 3.61 (31) |
| 18.8% (23) | PP% | 14.2% (31) |
| 75.1% (28) | PK% | 76.6% (25) |
| 45.98% (28) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 48.15% (21) |
| 46.47% (28) | 5v5 Unblocked Shot Attempt % | 48.28% (22) |
| 8.39% (19) | 5v5 Shooting % | 9.35% (7) |
| .919 (9) | 5v5 Save % | .911 (18) |
| Nick Suzuki, 25 | G Leader | Boone Jenner, 19 |
| Nick Suzuki, 36 | A Leader | Johnny Gaudreau, 35 |
| Nick Suzuki, 61 | P Leader | Johnny Gaudreau, 45 |
| Arber Xhekhaj, 67 | PIM Leader | Erik Gudbranson, 59 |
| 12-17-3 | Home/Road | 10-15-6 |
| 2-6-2 | Last 10 | 5-5-0 |
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
| Johnny Gaudreau | Boone Jenner | Yegor Chinakhov |
| Alexandre Texier | Cole Sillinger | Alex Nylander |
| Trey Fix-Wolansky | Dmitri Voronkov | Kirill Marchenko |
| Carson Meyer | Sean Kuraly | Mathieu Olivier |
| Zach Werenski | Adam Boqvist |
| Ivan Provorov | Damon Severson |
| Jake Bean | Erik Gudbranson |
| Elvis Merzlikins |
| Daniil Tarasov |
Montreal Canadiens
| Cole Caufield | Nick Suzuki | Juraj Slafkovsky |
| Joshua Roy | Alex Newhook | Joel Armia |
| Brendan Gallagher | Jake Evans | Josh Anderson |
| Michael Pezzetta | Tanner Pearson | Rafael Harvey-Pinard |
| Michael Matheson | Kaiden Guhle |
| Arber Xhekhaj | David Savard |
| Jayden Struble | Jordan Harris |
| Samuel Montembeault |
| Cayden Primeau |