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2009-10 Schedule/Results
(2009-11-10 11:49 posted by Matt Dilworth)
Preview: Calgary (10-4-1) at Montreal (8-9-0) - November 10th, 2009
The Montreal Canadiens will look to halt their one-game losing skid as they face the Calgary Flames this Tuesday night. The two teams played earlier this year in Calgary, with the Flames winning 4-3 in a closely battled match. Eric Nystrom, Staffan Kronwall and Jarome Iginla scored for Calgary, while Scott Gomez, Guillaume Latendresse and Tomas Plekanec replied for Montreal. Jaroslav Halak made 24 saves in the losing effort while Miikka Kiprusoff made 27 saves for the win. Calgary is riding a 3-game winning streak and are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games, while Montreal is 6-4-0.
Calgary's workhorse, Miikka Kiprusoff, (9-3-1, 2.68 GAA .912 SV%) is likely to get the start for Calgary, whereas Halak (5-2-0, 2.85 GAA, .893 SV%) will be called upon for Montreal. Rene Bourque leads the Flames in scoring (6G, 11A) while Jarome Iginla has been heating up of late and was named the NHL's first star last week (4G, 2GWG). Mike Cammalleri (7G, 7A) and Tomas Plekanec (4G, 10A) share the scoring lead through 17 games with 14 points. Calgary is one of the more potent teams on offense with an average of 3.4 goals per game, which is good for 3rd in the NHL. Montreal is among the basement-dwellers in that department, with an average of 2.47 goals per game, and have only scored 2 goals in the past 2 games. Montreal's depleted defense is equally pitiful with an average of 3.18 goals against per game, while Calgary maintains a better average of 2.87, and have looked much better in that department lately.
Calgary boasts the 5th best powerplay in the NHL with a conversion rate of 24.5% with the man advantage, while Montreal falls in at 24th with a 15.2% success rate. Montreal's powerplay continues to struggle without Andrei Markov, and have gone 1 for 13 over the last 5 games. For the most part, Montreal doesn't receive as many chances on the powerplay as their opponents, and must force the other team to take more penalties. Furthermore, Montreal's powerplay is fraught with too much individualistic effort and must buy into a simple, team-oriented strategy to be successful. Brian Gionta and Marc-André Bergeron lead the Habs with two powerplay goals while Iginla lead the flames with 3 goals with the man advantage. Calgary employs the 11th-best penalty killing percentage with 82%, while Montreal weighs in with a 76.4% success rate (25th). Montreal went 0 for 1 on the penalty kill the last time these two teams met, surrendering a goal in just 21 seconds.
Andrei Markov (ankle), Ryan O'Byrne (knee), Georges Laraque (back), Matt D'Agostini (head) and Hal Gill (foot) are all out tonight with injury while Calgary's Fredrik Sjostrom (hand) is questionable. Based on the morning skate, Marc-André Bergeron, Kyle Chipchura and Greg Stewart will be healthy scratches. Jay Leach, acquired off of waivers last weeks, will see his first game as a Canadien, and will be paired with Mathieu Carle on defense. Andrei Kostitsyn will skate on the top line with Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez while Mike Cammalleri will play with Tomas Plekanec and Maxim Lapierre. The Canadiens will be wearing their vintage red and green uniforms from the 1910-11 season.
The puck drops at 7:30 EST and can be seen on RDS and Sportsnet-W.
This preview was written by Matt Dilworth.