For the second and last time this season, the Montreal Canadiens will take on the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night at the Bell Centre. The two sides met earlier this month, and the Habs came out on top in a 4-3. Once again, it will be a battle between the two top rookies in the league, as Lane Hutson currently leads the race to the highest-scoring rookie with 43 points, with Macklin Celebrini trailing by one point.
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In the last duel, the Sharks rookie notched a point and an assist while the Canadiens blueliner could only muster a power play helper. The Californian outfit has won six of the last 10 duels between the two teams, but it has a 1-7-2 record in its previous 10 contests and hasn’t won a single game in February. Its last triumph was on Jan. 27, when it signed a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Canadiens didn’t practice today, so there’s no indication yet as to Josh Anderson’s availability after he collided at full speed with the boards in Tuesday’s game, but no one has been called up from the Laval Rocket yet.
Samuel Montembeault has been in net for the Canadiens’ last two games, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Jakub Dobes step between the pipes on Thursday night. Montembeault was on duty when the two teams met earlier this month and has a 2-1-0 record against them with a 2.74 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage. As for Dobes, he has never taken on the Sharks but has a 5-2-1 record this season with a 2.71 GAA and a .908 SP.
Vitek Vanecek was in the net for the Sharks on their last game on Monday night, but there’s no word yet on who will handle the net for San Jose on Thursday night. He’s 3-1-0 against the Habs with a 2.76 GAA and a .894 SP. As for Alexandar Georgiev, he’s 4-6-0 when facing Montreal with a 3.33 GAA and a .893 SP.
Former Hab Tyler Toffoli is the Sharks’ most prolific scorer against la Sainte-Flanelle with 20 points in 21 games, followed by Alex Wennberg, who has 14 points in 22 tilts, and Colin White, who has 12 in 26 dates.
On the Canadiens’ side, Christian Dvorak leads the Canadiens in the points department when taking on the Sharks with 14 points in 25 games, Patrik Laine is in second place with 10 in 13 contests, and Anderson wraps up the top three with eight in 12 games.
With just four games left in the Canadiens’ calendar until the trade deadline, there’s a chance some players could be taking their last strides wearing the bleu, blanc, rouge…
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