MONTREAL - With two points on the table and a chance to give Boston a run for their money in a race for the division, the Montreal Canadiens can't afford to take Jhonas Enroth and the Buffalo Sabres lightly. Considering the Sabres recent record of 12-4-2 over their last 18 games, it could easily be said that their standing in the Eastern Conference isn't necessarily representative of the quality of their team.
Consider that they've kept in the race despite a season-ending injury to their leading scorer Derek Roy, suffered 19 games ago.
Buffalo sits four points back of the Carolina Hurricanes for the final playoff spot in the East, and despite their advantage of holding games in hand on every team in front of them, they have a brutal schedule to undertake.
Tonight will be the first of eight back-to-back situations the Sabres face between now and the end of the season (16-28 remaining games).
The teams are headed in opposite directions, in the sense that Buffalo plays tonight's game on the road before kicking off six straight in the comfort of their home arena, while the Canadiens play their last game at home before kicking off a 3-game road trip to Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver.
On the injury front, the Habs received the good news that both Max Pacioretty and Mathieu Darche are sufficiently healed to participate in tonight's game. Mike Cammalleri remains sidelined, rehabbing his shoulder in the hopes he'll be ready to participate in Sunday's Heritage Classic against the Flames. Hal Gill continues to deal with an undisclosed lower-body injury and Jaroslav Spacek could join him on the sidelines for tonight's game, with the Canadiens having recalled Brendon Nash, who will make his NHL debut if Spacek can't go.
The goaltending match-up heavily favours Price, having already taken 7 of 8 possible points against the Sabres this season.
Up front, Darche's return means Lars Eller is out of the lineup, pushing Travis Moen next to Scott Gomez and Andrei Kostitsyn. Darche will skate on the fourth unit with Tom Pyatt and Jeff Halpern, while the team's hottest player David Desharnais will centre a line with Benoit Pouliot and Ryan White riding shotgun. Pouliot has goals in his last two games.
We'll see if bumps and bruises keep Pacioretty from continuing on his impressive pace. The power forward has seven points in his last six games, and has provided great energy for a team in need--one nursing injuries to so many key components.
It's often said your best players need to be your best players, and Tomas Plekanec's certainly answered the bell with nine points in his last 10 games. Brian Gionta has six points in his last seven games.
On the other side of that, Gomez has three points over his last eight games and is a -6 over that stretch. James Wisniewski, who currently ranks as the 9th leading scorer among defencemen, only has two assists over his last three games (both scored in the loss to Boston) since returning from the illness that kept him out for back-to-back games the previous week. P.K. Subban recorded three points in his last four games, but is -5 over that stretch.
I certainly wouldn't group Gomez with Wisniewski and Subban, but the Habs will need better play out of all three moving forward -- especially with the team having to play 15 of their remaining 25 games on the road, where they hold a record that one game south of .500.
