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Game #69 - Colorado Avalanche @ Montreal Canadiens - Saturday, March 22nd, 2025 @ 7:00PM EST


Who will have the best game against their former team?  

13 members have voted

  1. 1. Who will have the best game against their former team?

    • Artturi Lehkonen
      2
    • Jonathan Drouin
      3
    • Alex Newhook
      8


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In succession of Mr. CC’s valiant run as GDT host, I come to you with peace and victories in mind. The Habs have a tough opponent ahead and have yet to bring victories to the table while in a playoff spot late in this season. Tomorrow brings an opportunity where this could all change. 
 

Next Matchup

 

Colorado Avalanche @ Montreal Canadiens - Saturday, March 22nd - 7:00PM EST (19h) - Centre Bell

 

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Montreal Canadiens

 

Caufield - Suzuki - Slafkovský

Roy - Newhook - Laine

Anderson - Dvorak - Gallagher

Heineman - Evans - Armia

 

Hutson - Struble 

Matheson - Carrier

Xhekaj - Savard

 

Montembeault

Dobeš


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Colorado Avalanche

 

Drouin - Mackinnon - Nichushkin

Lehkonen - Nelson - Necas

Kiviranta - Coyle - Colton

Kelly - Drury - O’Connor

 

Toews - Makar

Lindgren - Malinski

Middleton - Johnson


Wedgewood

Blackwood

 

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Storyline

 

Saturday’s matchup brings some familiar faces back to the Bell Centre in Artturi Lehkonen and Jonathan Drouin.

 

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Both players have seemingly carved out a niche of their own in Colorado and have been contributors for the team. Outside of the newcomers to the team, in Necas and Nelson, as well as Rantanen, who was traded away, Lehkonen finds himself only behind Mackinnon and Makar in scoring. Drouin has had some injuries this season but is similarly only behind Mackinnon, Makar, Necas and Nichushkin in points per game on the team, with 32 points in 37 games (or .86 points per game). To put this into perspective, only Caufield and Suzuki have a better points per game on the Habs (.90 and 1.04 points per game respectively). With Drouin and Mackinnon having a long history together, this comes as no surprise.

 

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Ironically, both Drouin and Lehkonen have won championships with Mackinnon. 
 

Drouin with the Halifax Mooseheads in junior:

 

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Lehkonen with the Colorado Avalanche in 2022:

 

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On Montreal’s side of things, Alex Newhook will look to defeat his former championship winning team. 

 

Despite criticism of the second line, Newhook has been playing extremely well as of late, utilizing his speed to obtain high quality chances which have lacked a combination of luck as well as execution. Still, if he keeps up his play he will be rewarded soon. This matchup against his former team may just be the moment. 
 

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The starting goalies are a little up in the air for both teams. On Montreal’s end, there is a valid argument for both goaltenders to start. Montembeault is the guy right now, but he has played 3 consecutive games, and Montreal has not gone with a goalie 4 games in a row in this calendar year, and likely even longer than that. Dobeš on the other hand rarely gets home starts and has only played one Saturday home game this year, a 4-3 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils in late January. With that being said, Dobeš’ second career win was this year against Colorado, a 2-1 shootout victory where Dobeš stopped 22 out of 23 shots and left the game with a .957 save percentage.

 

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Mackenzie Blackwood is the starter in Colorado but Wedgewood has taken over the reigns as of late and performed well. Colorado’s starting goalie for Saturday is a bit up in the air as well.


Both teams enter the game as two of the hottest teams in the league since the 4 Nations Cup. The Habs are 6-1-3 in their last 10 and haven’t lost in regulation in 2 weeks since their 1-0 loss to Calgary on Saturday, March 8th. Colorado is 8-1-1 in their last 10. They are playing their final game of a 3 game eastern Canada swing where they lost 2-1 to the Leafs but smashed the Senators 5-1 on Thursday. Let’s hope they got their goals out of the way last game.

 

Finally, the Habs play their first game against a Rantanen-less Colorado Avalanche. Instead, we face them with Necas, who has been playing very well for them with 19 points in 21 games.


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Previous Meeting:

 

January 4th, 2025: Montreal 2 - 1 Colorado (SO)

 

:gohabsgo:

 

 

 

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Epic GDT!

 

Funny, I was just thinking yesterday that if the Habs had re-signed Danault and Lehkonen - both heroes of the Run of '21 - we might never have bottomed out and needed to rebuild. Weird how things go.

 

Drouin, I could care less, he was garbage from start to finish with us and obviously needs to be in a specialized, hothouse flower environment with minimal pressure, where he can pad his stats.

 

This is a game of gargantuan proportions. GO HABS GO!!

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Awesome GDT man !

 

I voted Drouin. He's on a good streak, his linemates are amazing and currently on PP1.

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3 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

Epic GDT!

 

Funny, I was just thinking yesterday that if the Habs had re-signed Danault and Lehkonen - both heroes of the Run of '21 - we might never have bottomed out and needed to rebuild. Weird how things go.

 

Drouin, I could care less, he was garbage from start to finish with us and obviously needs to be in a specialized, hothouse flower environment with minimal pressure, where he can pad his stats.

 

This is a game of gargantuan proportions. GO HABS GO!!

I agrée on the GDT, and I disagree in calling any one “garbage” 


He was a misfit for what he was traded for with the Habs and he has fit well in COL. Good for him

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22 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said:

I agrée on the GDT, and I disagree in calling any one “garbage” 


He was a misfit for what he was traded for with the Habs and he has fit well in COL. Good for him

 

OK - just to clarify, he was a garbage player for us. A soft, unreliable perimeter player. I'm sure he's a decent human being.

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15 minutes ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

Yes it is. I look for some cannonading drives from Caulfield and some scintillating saves from Monty. 

 

I agree there Danny... and also for Newhook to be stepping gingerly and skedaddling over the blue line.

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1 hour ago, Canajun said:

 

I agree there Danny... and also for Newhook to be stepping gingerly and skedaddling over the blue line.

 

And hopefully at the same time he can negotiate contact with the puck.  

 

That's actually my name by the way, good guess. LOL

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30 minutes ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

And hopefully at the same time he can negotiate contact with the puck.  

 

That's actually my name by the way, good guess. LOL

 

Hahah... oh cool ! Love those old Danny Gallivan expressions. Maybe David will do a Savardian Spin-o-rama tomorrow night, lol.

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2 minutes ago, Canajun said:

 

Hahah... oh cool ! Love those old Danny Gallivan expressions. Maybe David will do a Savardian Spin-o-rama tomorrow night, lol.

 

Gallivan was the best, there is no debate about that. None.

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Gallivan was just slightly before my time, but what seems to have separated him from the pack was that - in addition to timing, varying intonations, a feel for the game, etc., which lots of good play-by-play guys possess - he had a genuine interest in the English language. There are a number of contemporary hockey broadcasters and TV commentators I respect, but none have a real skill a turning a memorable phrase. The closest we have is the tiresome Ron MacLean with his endless supply of puns. From the sublime to the asinine.

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The AVs look good.

 

This will be no easy game.

 

You can see how those trades did well for Colorado.

 

We will have to pound on their top 2 D and keep Mack away from the puck.

 

This is a fast team, but we are too. Hopefully we can neuter them and come out on top.

 

We’ll need puck luck and one heck of a game with everyone pulling in the same direction.

 

The AVs are at their peak, but we are climbing the cliff to push them down that mountain.

 

HABS 3 AVs 2 OT BABY. Hutson shows Makar the snake.

 

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Will be a tough one to win it seems.

 

Canadiens vs. Avalanche: Game preview and how to watch

"They did see immediate results from Martin Necas, who was acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes in the Rantanen trade. In 21 games with his new team he has 19 points, which ranks behind only the two aforementioned elite players in that time. One of their trade deadline adds, Charlie Coyle, has only produced two assists in seven games so far, but Brock Nelson has four points in the same span, looking most comfortable while putting two pucks past Linus Ullmark in a blowout of the Ottawa Senators a game ago. They also have the boost of Valeri Nichushkin returning from his time in the player assistance program to score 11 points in 11 games so far."

 

 

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6 minutes ago, DON said:

Will be a tough one to win it seems.

 

Canadiens vs. Avalanche: Game preview and how to watch

"They did see immediate results from Martin Necas, who was acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes in the Rantanen trade. In 21 games with his new team he has 19 points, which ranks behind only the two aforementioned elite players in that time. One of their trade deadline adds, Charlie Coyle, has only produced two assists in seven games so far, but Brock Nelson has four points in the same span, looking most comfortable while putting two pucks past Linus Ullmark in a blowout of the Ottawa Senators a game ago. They also have the boost of Valeri Nichushkin returning from his time in the player assistance program to score 11 points in 11 games so far."

 

 

 

There is no question which is the stronger team.

 

Hopefully they take us lightly and we can catch them on an off-night.

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15 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

There is no question which is the stronger team.

 

Hopefully they take us lightly and we can catch them on an off-night.

If we learned one thing against the Islanders, it’s that you don’t have to be the better team to win a game :D

 

I guess we could also say that for our mini streak against Florida, Vegas, Colorado, Tampa, etc. earlier in the season.

 

The Habs do have a solid top line but the one area we may be able to say we have Colorado is depth within the starting lineup. Not necessarily depth in terms of injury replacements but depth within the actual lineup.

 

Colorado is also on the tail end of their road  trip. Despite them being a decent road team, it would be nice for that to perhaps play a factor. 
 

It’s crazy to think that the Habs haven’t been blown out of a game since a 4-0 loss to New Jersey on February 8th. Despite the strength of the opposition, we as fans should have every reason to believe that the Habs will be competitive tonight, one way or the other.

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Montembeault confirmed as the starter tonight.

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Id have gone with Dobes.  Monty is showing some signs of tiring and a backup should still be playing about 30% of games.

 

Your hurting both guys when you dont give the backup starts.  Its hard to play with too much time in between games as well as overworking the lead dog.

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I am sure Colorado will have their chances tonight but we’ve handled some teams that are similarly offensively talented… At least in terms of shots per game.
 

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Despite their not so great overall defensive stats that were posted, the Habs have been playing quite well defensively as a unit as of late. Kind of like one would expect them to play during the playoffs. This wont be easy for Colorado either. I think we can expect that there may be a questionable goal or two allowed but this doesn’t really give me any less reason to believe that we will be competitive tonight.

 

Montembeault hasn’t lost a game in regulation since February 8th. Him being pulled tonight is highly unlikely. 

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18 minutes ago, Commandant said:

Id have gone with Dobes.  Monty is showing some signs of tiring and a backup should still be playing about 30% of games.

 

Your hurting both guys when you dont give the backup starts.  Its hard to play with too much time in between games as well as overworking the lead dog.

 

I agree, although for some reason I have this irrational feeling that Monty is going to come up big tonight. But either way, I rest him next game for sure.

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I’ve been holding it in because I hate saying it about our own players and have also mentioned it in the past so some probably already know and would be tired of hearing it but… I am not and never have been the biggest Montembeault fan (though he has been slowly growing on me at times).

 

With that being said, with the Habs in the exact position they are in the standings, one has to ask, would Price or Vasilevksiy, or Shesterkin… etc. play tonight? 
 

The answer, to me, is a clear yes. With that being said, if people are requesting that Dobeš play, that indicates a clear distrust in Montembeault. 
 

We can point to the fact that Montembeault has let in 1 goal more than expected against the Senators and 1.5 goals more than expected versus the Islanders in the recent past but considering Dobeš has not played at home very often and only once at home on a Saturday evening, the message from St. Louis to Montembeault would be quite clear in the same sense of not having trust in him to pull through if he chose Dobeš to start at home on a Saturday evening tonight. For the third time, I am not saying I agree with the manner in which St. Louis has sheltered Dobeš from Saturday night games at home, but if I noticed the pattern, I’m fairly certain players on the team have noticed it as well.
 

I admit it is possible, but I genuinely do not think Montembeault has let in weak goals because he is tired. It is a plausible narrative for sure, but it’s far from a fact. Those are goals that Montembeault has let in throughout his career. It’s nothing new. Simply more amplified in the moment we find ourselves in. 
 

I actually really like Dobeš but I don’t think the Habs find themselves in a situation where we have a 1a and 1b goalie. It’s far too early in Dobeš’ career for him to “deserve” or have earned that.
 

That brings me back to the point of a starter like Price or Vasilveskiy playing tonight. Of course, Montembeault is not at that level, but he is our starting goalie, and we have to play with the cards we are dealt. Given the circumstance, it doesn’t surprise me that we are starting our starter, for lack of a better word.

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