TLDR: Montreal has given up 14 goals in 3 games, and now it loses its best young playmaker for a few weeks. Nashville comes in Thursday after blowing a 2-goal lead in Toronto, and the Predators have shown they can win a low-scoring game. The Canadiens' games haven't stayed low-scoring.
The Predators and Canadiens are both 1-1-1 and both coming off losses. Nashville wants a tight, low-scoring game, while Montreal has allowed 14 goals in 3 games and just lost Ivan Demidov for 2 to 4 weeks. The game likely turns on whether Montreal's thin, Guhle-less defense can hold up against a Nashville team that has led late and failed to close it out.
Both clubs sit at 1-1-1 and both lost on Tuesday, so this is a pick-'em of 2 teams still sorting themselves out. Nashville's path is clear. When the Predators beat Dallas 2-1, first-period goals from Steven Stamkos and Nils Hoglander held up the rest of the way. That's the game they want: score early, then shut it down. In Toronto it fell apart. They led 2-0 after 1 and 4-3 after 2, then got outscored 2-0 in the 3rd and lost 5-4.
Montreal plays the opposite way. The Canadiens have scored 12 goals in 3 games and still lost 2 of them, a 6-5 overtime loss in Pittsburgh and a 6-4 home-opener loss to Carolina in which Zachary Bolduc scored twice. Now they're without Ivan Demidov, who had a goal and an assist in Pittsburgh. He's out 2 to 4 weeks with a lower-body injury, announced on the morning of the home opener. Martin St. Louis says the depth is there to "come in waves." Carolina scored 4 of the last 5 goals that night, which didn't help his case.
That puts the attention on the Montreal blue line. Kaiden Guhle is on IR with a groin injury, though St. Louis said Monday he's getting close. Until he's back, the defense has to show it can hold a lead. It led Carolina 3-2 after 1 and couldn't keep it. Nashville has the opposite problem in Toronto: it got the lead, then gave the game away in the 3rd.
Watch Juuse Saros. Justus Annunen is on IR, and the reporting suggests Saros could get a longer run of starts as a result. He allowed 3 goals on 30 shots in the loss to Minnesota. Nashville plays in Toronto on Tuesday, here on Thursday and in Ottawa on Saturday, so with Annunen out, Saros's workload on this road trip is worth tracking.
Puck drop at the Bell Centre is 7:00 PM ET. If Nashville scores first and slows the game down, this is the kind of game the Predators won against Dallas. If it turns into a track meet like Montreal's last 2, the Canadiens have shown they can score with anyone, even without Demidov. They just haven't been able to stop anyone.
Predators Visit a Leaky Canadiens Defense Without Ivan Demidov | Polymarket Odds · Barstool Bush
