NHL Grind Down: Tuesday, February 7th - Page Three
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Montréal Canadiens at Colorado Avalanche
| Montréal Canadiens | Colorado Avalanche | ||||||||
 | Carey Price |  | Calvin Pickard | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 30-16-8 | 14-33-2 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.91 | 2.44 | 22.60% | 79.60% | Team Stats | 2.02 | 3.41 | 14.10% | 77.90% |
The Canadiens are looking for a spark as they have dropped four of their last five games and have scored only nine goals in the process. It looks much worse when you consider that five of those goals were scored on home ice against the Buffalo Sabres in their 5-2 win. Phillip Danault, Max Pacioretty and Alexander Radulov will look to get the team going against a Colorado team that has given up 168 goals so far this season. Pacioretty leads the team with 25 goals and 44 points while Radulov’s 28 assists is tops on the team. They also serve as the top power play line along with defensemen Shea Weber and Nathan Beaulieu. This should bode well against the Avalanche as they have given up a power play goal in six of their last seven games. Alex Galchenyuk could be used as a one-off here for tournament plays as the Montreal center has tallied 28 points in the 33 games he has suited up for. One would think that Montreal should be able to take care of business here despite Colorado winning their last game which broke a nine game winless streak. It’s also interesting to note that the Avalanche have one two games in a row twice through 49 games. But hey, they did win all six of their preseason games!
As noted above, the Colorado Avalanche are not a good team. In fact they are the worst team in the league as they have the dubious honor of being the only team in the league not to reach the century mark yet in goals. The top line of Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen should only be in the conversation if you play multiple tournament lineups. MacKinnon leads the team with 34 points while Landeskog and Rantanen have chalked up 21 and 18 points respectively. These are not good numbers by any stretch of the imagination which is the exact reason why using them in cash game play would be totally insane. Matt Duchene is your one-off for tournament play as he has registered a team leading 15 goals while collecting 32 points so far this season. Tyson Barrie is normally the play on the back line but Nikita Zadorov has been able to grab four assists over the last six games. This may not seem like much but on this team it looks like he is Bobby Orr. The statistics and the eye-test just don’t add up tom play anyone from this team tonight.
Elite Plays
MTL: Max Pacioretty
COL: None
Secondary Plays
MTL: Alexander Radulov, Alex Galchenyuk, Philip Danault, Shea Weber
COL: Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene, Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog