Streaking Montreal Canadiens host the Nashville Predators
The red hot Montreal Canadiens will try to keep their four-game win streak going as they host the Nashville Predators on Thursday 18 November.
Previous meetings and recent games
In the only meeting between these two teams last season the Predators were victorious at home by a score of 2-0. This will be the only meeting between these two teams this season (barring an improbable Stanley Cup finals encounter) and the venue will shift
to the Bell Centre in Montreal where the Canadiens have won three games in a row.
The Canadiens are also riding the NHL's longest current winning streak after winning their fourth in a row over the Philadelphia Flyers.
After a very strong start to the season, the Predators have begun to struggle and have now lost six of their last eight games. They are most recently coming off a 5-4 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs – a game they were winning 4-1 at one point before the
Leafs scored four unanswered goals.
How they match up
Pekka Rinne is the starting goalie for the Predators and is one of the few starting goalies in the NHL with a goals against average over 3.00.
At the other end of the rink is Carey Price who has begun to make a case for himself as top tier NHL goaltender and is justifying his being chosen fifth overall in the 2005 NHL draft. Price recently earned the nod as the NHL's first star of the week and
on Tuesday night collected his third shutout of the season.
Up front, the Canadiens are getting regular contributions from their leading scorer Tomas Plekanec who is averaging more than a point per game. Brian Gionta has come to life since moving onto the top line with Plekanec and Mike Cammalleri and has now scored
a goal in each of his last three games and four goals in last five games.
The Canadiens power play, which had struggled earlier in the season, has sprung to life and has now scored eight times in their last four games and has been a major factor in their ability to win games. Many would have said that the return of Andrei Markov
to the lineup would have been instrumental in sparking the change in the power play's effectiveness, but Markov is now out indefinitely with a knee injury and the Canadiens still managed to score twice with the man advantage against the Philadelphia Flyers
without Markov.
The Predators have had difficulty finding a consistent scorer this season. Steve Sullivan and Patric Hornqvist lead the way with five goals each. Their top defenceman, Shea Weber, has only seven points so far this season and is a team-worst minus-7 on the
year. Cody Franson has been solid on the blue line for the Predators scoring four goals and is a plus-6. The Predators are also ranked 26th out of 30 teams on the power play.
What to expect
The Canadiens have momentum and home ice advantage, but all five of their losses in regulation this season have come against teams who are outside of the top eight in their respective conference.
The Canadiens could also be thinking ahead to their weekend meeting with the Toronto Maple Leafs who defeated the Canadiens in the season opener. It won't matter. Expect the Canadiens to keep the good times rolling with a 3-1 win.
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