The Montreal Canadiens hope to bring their winning ways home when they play host to the once-again struggling Calgary Flames on Wednesday.
The Canadiens ended a run of seven consecutive road games with a 4-3 overtime victory over the Dallas Stars on Sunday. Thanks to the wild, back-and-forth victory Montreal posted a 4-1-2 mark during their sojourn.
Ending the trek by drumming up a comeback victory over the Stars was a huge boost for the Canadiens.
“We feel we have the brand right now and a group that can compete with anybody,” coach Martin St. Louis said. “That doesn’t guarantee the result, but I feel all season we’ve put ourselves in a pretty good spot. We’ve proven that we can compete and we’re just trying to maximize the result when we can.”
As it begins a four-game stretch at home, Montreal sits third in the Atlantic Division just past the season’s midway point thanks to an 8-2-3 run.
Among the keys to Montreal’s strong run has been the improved goaltending from the trio Jakub Dobes, Sam Montembeault and Jacob Fowler, as well as the resurgence of forward Juraj Slafkovsky since moving to a line with Oliver Kapanen and Ivan Demidov.
After scoring only three goals in 22 games, Slafkovsky has netted six goals and six assists in his last eight outings.
“It’s been really good recently. Just finding the ways how to create plays and get the puck on the net,” Slafkovsky said. “I have been doing a lot of good stuff, and I just have to keep showing up like this every night.”
The Flames are kicking off a five-game road trip after ending a lengthy home-heavy stretch with a 5-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Monday.
The clash was tied going into the third period before Calgary surrendered four unanswered goals in the final frame.
The Flames have lost two straight after a strong six-week run put them three points back of a playoff position prior to puck drop on Monday. Following a start that left them at the bottom of the league standings well into November, the Flames had actually reached the .500 mark but could not maintain the momentum.
“When you get back to .500, you want to take the next step as a group,” defenseman MacKenzie Weegar said. “You want to get those two games and feeling good, being above .500. We’ve got to find that next step. It was right there for us. Now we’ve got a big road trip, have to fight back to .500 and find that next gear.”
Despite sitting 30th overall in the league, Calgary has a solid home record, but has struggled away from the Saddledome with a 6-13-2 mark.
“When you’re at home, you’d like to win all your games. It’s really important. You have to establish your identity at home,” coach Ryan Huska said. “That shouldn’t change when you’re on the road. We haven’t been at the level we need to be at. This is a great trip for us to do that.”
Defenseman Zayne Parekh will return to the team after being an offensive force for Canada at the world junior tournament in which he compiled five goals and eight assists. Parekh played 11 NHL games this season before suffering an injury, and managed one assist.
–Field Level Media
