The Montreal Canadiens face the Columbus Blue Jackets with both teams looking to improve on rough starts to the season. The Canadiens have a 9-9-1 record while the Blue Jackets have a 7-10-1 record and are in last place in the Metropolitan Division. Both teams are looking to improve in the Eastern Conference and the upcoming game should be a good one.
The Canadiens are off to a rough start to the season despite their offense stepping up and scoring 3.06 goals per game. Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield have scored 22 goals and 20 assists to lead the top line but the rest of the offense has also been great. Kirby Dach, Sean Monahan, and Christian Dvorak have combined for 11 goals and 24 assists while Mike Hoffman, Brendan Gallagher, and Josh Anderson have added 13 goals and 10 assists to the backend of the forward unit, making the offense tough to stop.
The offense has stepped up but the defense has struggled, allowing 3.50 goals per game including seven goals in their recent game. Jordan Harris and Johnathan Kovacevic have combined for 1.7 defensive point shares but the rest of the unit has been awful, allowing open shots on the net at will. The bright spot has been the play of goaltender Sam Montembeault who has a .915 save percentage and a 2.83 goa ls-against average on 199 shots.