The Montreal Canadiens face the St. Louis Blues with both teams looking to have strong starts to the season. The Canadiens have a 4-4 record while the Blues started the season 3-0 but three straight losses have them at 3-3 on the season and in the middle of the Central Division. The Canadiens are looking to climb out of the bottom of a competitive Central Division while the Blues are hoping to rebound in their division, making the upcoming game a crucial one for both teams.
The Canadiens are having a promising season but hope the offense can improve, scoring only 2.50 goals per game with only six goals in their last three games. Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki have scored eight goals and six assists while Sean Monahan and Josh Anderson have added five goals and four assists to the forward unit but the rest of the offense has struggled. The hope is that Jonathan Drouin and Christian Dvorak can step up as they have only scored three assists on the season thus far.
The offense has struggled but the defense has stepped up, allowing only 2.88 goals per game. Jordan Harris and Chris Wideman have combined for 1.1 defensive point shares and 26 blocked shots to lead the top line but the rest of the defense has also played well with Arber Xhekaj, Johnathan Kovacevic, and the rest of the unit creating turnovers in the defensive zone and limiting shots on the net. Moreover, goa ltender Jake Allen is having a great season in the net with a .917 save percentage and a 2.62 goals-against average on 157 shots