Ducks @ Canadiens
Sat., Feb. 3 @ 9:30 a.m. PT
TV: FOX Sports West/FOX Sports GO
The Montreal Canadiens will kick off their annual back-to-back matinees on Super Bowl weekend with a visit from the Anaheim Ducks to Bell Centre on Saturday.
The Ducks (25-17-10) are in third place in the Pacific Division with 60 points, the same number as the San Jose Sharks, but the Ducks have played two more games. The Ducks will be looking to start another winning streak against the Canadiens after having their three-game winning streak ended Thursday in Ottawa with a 2-1 overtime loss to the Senators.
Both of the Senators goals came on 4-on-3 power plays, so one area the Ducks will be looking to clean up against the Canadiens will be their discipline.
"I'm not happy with some of the things that happened out there," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "When you give up two power-play goals and both of them are 4-on-3s, somebody had an effect on the game."
Forward Chris Wagner took a retaliatory roughing penalty that negated a Ducks power play with Senators forward Ryan Dzingel headed to the box for tripping. Thirty-five seconds later, Jakob Silfverberg went off for tripping and Ottawa scored to take a 1-0 lead.
"We took a very undisciplined penalty in the third period to give them life in the hockey game, and you can't do that on the road," Carlyle said. "There's no defending that penalty. There's no need for (Wagner) to get involved with that. We go from a power play to a 4-on-4, and next thing you know, Silfverberg gets his feet caught up with (Senators captain Erik) Karlsson and it's a 4-on-3 and there's their first goal. It was a momentum changer, and we have to correct those things.
"We're on the road here. We've got to do what we can do to garner points. It's never easy to win on the road. ... We'll try to eliminate some of the turnovers we displayed (Thursday) and regroup and get ourselves ready for a Saturday afternoon at the Bell Centre."
Anaheim forward Ryan Kesler, who scored with 54 seconds left in the third period to tie the game, said the best preparation for the Canadiens was to just shake off the frustration of the loss to the Senators.
"It was a weird game. It was tough to get some calls there and not get calls on the other side to flip things. We're going to learn from our mistakes. It was key we got a point. Every point is huge right now. In our conference, it's so tight we've got to fight for points on the road trip," he said.
"Just move on. It was a weird game. I thought we were desperate to get that goal. The flip side of things is we gave up a point. We want to be better in Montreal."
The Ducks manhandled the Canadiens in a 6-2 win in Anaheim Oct. 20.
"That's how they play," Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher told montrealcanadiens.com on Friday. "That's their style and you kind of expect it every time you play them. They're going to do that and for us, it's going to be important to be ready to compete and to battle. Those are fun games to play in, so hopefully we can enjoy it."
The Canadiens (20-25-6) are in 14th place in the Eastern Conference, 10 points out of the second wild-card position. They have lost three games in a row and are 3-5-2 in their past 10 games. They are coming off a 2-0 loss to the Hurricanes in Carolina on Thursday.
They are 29th in the NHL in goals per game at 2.51.
"We'd all like to be scoring more goals, but doing so is not easy," Gallagher said. "You have to be willing to get into the tough areas, to compete and to battle. Sometimes it's the easier option to stay on the perimeter and feel like you're getting your shots and your chances, but there's always better opportunities to be had if you can get on the inside. It's something that we've obviously got to do better and when we do, the goals will probably start to come."
The Canadiens will also be looking to do a better job in the faceoff circle. They won 10 of 48 faceoffs against the Hurricanes.
Canadiens No. 1 defenseman Shea Weber will miss his 19th game with a foot injury and forward Andrew Shaw his ninth with a lower body injury. Center Phillip Danault will miss his ninth game with concussion-like symptoms.
The Canadiens close out their Super Bowl weekend when they host the Ottawa Senators on Sunday in another matinee.
