betprepare.com

Habs did a great job in the away game

Habs are coming home after three away wins. Jackets, on the other hand, are playing well, but it doesn't give them satisfying scores

Canadiens come home after a fantastic series of three away games won. Their first game is tonight, against Columbus Blue Jackets. They won against Edmonton, Vancouver and Winnipeg with two or three goals difference, regardless their problems from the beginning of the season. The last ones to get hurt were the Jets 3-0, so we can conclude that Montreal don't have defense issues anymore. Subban, Briere and Prust scored, while Price shootout with 36 saves in the away game. 

- It was important for us to get off to a good start again this year. Every day we're coming to the rink, we're preparing for the next game, and that has been the real key for this team, staying focused on the next game - Price said after an amazing evening.

There are still things that can be improved. Their powerplay is not at a level at which it is supposed to be. They only used one out of five chances in the last game. They have to shoot on goal more, because they get lost in all the combinations and give the puck to the opponent too easily.
In this game, they won't be able to rely on standard backs Emelin, Drewiske, Murray, and forwards Parros, and Pacioertty who has a minor injury, but should be ready for tonight's encounter.

After losing at home from Boston, Columbus Blue Jackets went for Detroit. They played better than well there, but they simply couldn't solve one problem - Detroit's goalie Jonas Gustavsson. As hard as they tried, they managed to score only once, and Gustavsson had 36 saves.

- I like the way we played on Tuesday. So, unless something changes between now and then, I'll probably go back to the same lineup - Jackets coach Todd Richards said, and added:

- We created chances. We played smart hockey. We've done that for two games now and we haven't been rewarded. We need to get rewarded for it.

Forward Matt Calver won't be playing this match for Jackets, he's got a six weeks break. His forward colleague, Nick Foligno is still out for personal reasons. Foligno's performance is still questionable, but most likely he won't be playing.

I think the statistics say enough in this case. Both teams went over only once so far, but we could find quite good reasons for that exception. Both of them have great goalies, which is why I once again expect a game with small number of goals scored. Since the difference between under 5,5 and under 5 is not that big, I'll go for under 5.