The Montreal Canadiens have faced travel issues between Colorado and Texas, but will be in action Friday night to face the Stars in Dallas.
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With goalkeeper Jake Allen in net and Michael Pezzetta in uniform in place of Evgenii Dadonov, the Habs will also have a lot to do. Because with only four losses suffered in regulation time on the ice of the American Airlines Arena, the Stars are one of the toughest teams at home in the National League.
The Stars, who sit at the top of the Central section, also count on the formidable Jason Robertson in attack, who is at the heart of the race for the Maurice-Richard trophy with his 24 goals in 34 games.
“It’s our last game before the break. [du temps des Fêtes] and we know we’ll have to be mentally ready to finish the job against a great team,” said captain Nick Suzuki after the Habs’ morning practice.
“They [les Stars] are very good on their rink and we will need our best performance [pour l’emporter].”
The CH will face the Dallas club after skipping Thursday’s training, canceled in the wake of transportation problems related to the winter storm that is raging in several places in North America.
Suzuki also said that the team took the opportunity to make video sessions and that the objective was to find solutions to improve the collective game in defense.
Bounce
Facing the Stars, the Habs will try to recover from a 2-1 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday, a game in which they were lucky to get a point in the standings. Moreover, with Monday’s victory against the Arizona Coyotes, Martin St. Louis’ men have already accumulated three points in this three-game trip to the American West.
The Stars also lost their last game, 6-3, to the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday. Described as “drafts” by their coach Pete DeBoer, they intend to bounce back before Christmas.
This will be the second meeting of the season between these two teams. At the Bell Center on October 22, veteran Joe Pavelski put on a show by scoring a hat trick and adding an assist in a 5-2 Stars win.