Vancouver Canucks at Montreal Canadiens: Preview, Lineups, Insights

The Vancouver Canucks are headed on a six-game road trip, starting in Montreal — home of the National Hockey League’s current No. 1.

The Vancouver Canucks are arguably the worst team in the NHL right now. They can’t score and have quite the bad defense. So how are they supposed to beat the Montreal Canadiens, who are first in the league standings, seventh in goals for and first in goals against?

There is no scientific explanation to predict a Canucks win. To be honest, I don’t expect them to win. However, they did pull it off last season, snapping Montreal’s nine-game winning streak at the beginning of the season.

Nothing is impossible.

Montreal Canadiens

OVERVIEW:

2016-17 Record: 8-0-1

Home Record: 5-0-0

2015-16 Record vs. Canucks: 1-1-0

Goals For: 31

Goals Against: 14

Power Play: 21.9% (14th)

Penalty Kill: 88.6% (6th)

Leading Scorers: Shea Weber (9 GP – 4 G – 6 A – 10 PTS), Alex Galchenyuk (9 GP – 3 G – 5 A – 8 PTS), Brendan Gallagher (9 GP – 4 G – 3 A – 7 PTS).

Injuries: Zach Redmond (foot, early December)

WHO’S ON OFFENCE:

Alex Galchenyuk: Remember the Canadiens’ top prospect who just couldn’t get it together? The very same player is currently the highest-scoring forward on the team with three goals and eight points in nine games.

Alexander Radulov: Signing Radulov would destroy the entire team chemistry, they said. He would be poison for the locker room, they said. But who ever said he couldn’t record two goals and seven points in nine games while playing on the Canadiens’ top line?

WHO’S ON DEFENCE:

Shea Weber: How can you trade P.K. “The God” Subban for Shea “Can’t Play Hockey” Weber? Okay, nobody ever called either player that and the biggest issue people had with the trade was Weber’s contract situation. Still, nobody really expected Weber to score over a point per game either. You may have figured it out by now — the players you thought weren’t that great are the reason why the Canadiens stand where they stand.

WHO’S IN NET:

Carey Price: For the first time in forever, it looks like Price isn’t the only reason why Montreal is winning. He is still playing great hockey, but his stats through five games are actually slightly worse than backup Al Montoya’s after four games. The Canadiens are a good hockey team, and Price is just one of many reasons why.

PROJECTED LINEUP:

Alexander Radulov — Alex Galchenyuk — Brendan Gallagher
Max Pacioretty — David Desharnais — Andrew Shaw
Artturi Lehkonen — Tomas Plekanec — Paul Byron
Phillip Danault — Torey Mitchell — Brian Flynn

Alexei Emelin — Shea Weber
Andrei Markov — Jeff Petry
Nathan Beaulieu — Greg Pateryn

Carey Price
Al Montoya

Vancouver Canucks

OVERVIEW:

2016-17 Record: 4-4-1

Away Record: 0-1-1

2015-16 Record vs. Canadiens: 1-0-1

Goals For: 17

Goals Against: 24

Power Play: 10.7% (26th)

Penalty Kill: 81.0% (18th)

Leading Scorers: Brandon Sutter (9 GP – 1 G – 4 A – 5 PTS), Henrik Sedin (9 GP – 3 G – 2 A – 5 PTS), Bo Horvat (9 GP – 4 G – ß A – 4 PTS)

Injuries: Chris Tanev (lower body, day-to-day), Derek Dorsett (shoulder, day-to-day), Anton Rodin (knee, day-to-day), Jayson Megna (undisclosed, mid-November), Brendan Gaunce (undisclosed, day-to-day)

WHO’S ON OFFENCE: