It’s a doubleheader kind of Saturday for Montreal sports fans. At 1 p.m., the CFL’s Eastern Semi-Final in Toronto decides who visits the Alouettes next week. Then at 7 p.m., the Canadiens vs Penguins rematch drops the puck at the Bell Centre, the Habs’ first home game after a four-game road trip, on Halloween night no less. Coverage of the hockey game is on Sportsnet East and TVA Sports. Note: the stats below are as of Oct. 29 and don’t include either team’s Thursday games (Montreal in Dallas, Pittsburgh at home to Utah).
Canadiens vs Penguins: a rematch of a wild one
These two opened the season against each other on Oct. 3 in Pittsburgh, and it was chaos. The Penguins led 5-1 midway through the second period before the Habs stormed back: Nick Suzuki scored late in the second, then Cole Caufield, Chris Kreider and Ivan Demidov struck in the third, with Kreider and Demidov scoring 24 seconds apart in the final 68 seconds to force overtime. Tommy Novak won it 1:33 into OT. The Canadiens’ recap called it a spoiled comeback; we’d call it a statement about this group’s refusal to quit.
Where the teams stand
As of Oct. 28, Montreal was 7-3-2 with 16 points, second in the Atlantic, riding a three-game winning streak. Pittsburgh was 5-6-1 with 11 points, sixth in the Metropolitan, with two straight wins.
Penguins to watch
- Erik Karlsson: leads the team with 12 points, 11 of them assists.
- Evgeni Malkin: six goals and nine points in 11 games, including a power-play goal in the first meeting.
- Tommy Novak: eight points and the OT winner on Oct. 3.
- Sidney Crosby: seven points in 12 games.
- Arturs Silovs: 5-3-0 with a 2.87 GAA and .890 save percentage. Sergei Murashov is 0-3-1.
The Habs’ form
The headline is Jacob Fowler. The rookie is 6-1-0 with a 1.54 GAA and a .942 save percentage, and he was named the NHL’s third star of the week after the Heritage Classic. In Tuesday’s 2-0 win in St. Louis he stopped all 46 shots, 24 in the third period alone, which the team says is a franchise record for saves by a rookie in a shutout. Zachary Bolduc scored against his former team, Florian Xhekaj got his first NHL goal, and Josh Anderson played his 700th career game.
Up front, Caufield leads the team with six goals, Lane Hutson has 10 points from the back end, and Bolduc has quietly reached five goals. Captain Suzuki (12 points in nine games) remains out with the upper-body injury that sidelined him on Oct. 22 for two to four weeks. Catch up on the trip in our Heritage Classic recap and our Dallas preview.
Three keys for tonight
- Start on time. Spotting Pittsburgh a four-goal lead worked out once. It won’t twice.
- Stay out of the box. Malkin and Karlsson made the power play hurt in October.
- Make Silovs work. An .890 save percentage invites traffic and point shots.
Not going to the game? Find a seat at one of our 12 bars and restaurants to watch the Canadiens, costume optional.
CFL Eastern Semi-Final: who comes to Molson Stadium?
Earlier in the day, Winnipeg visits Toronto at BMO Field at 1 p.m. ET (TSN1, TSN4, CTV and RDS). The winner plays the Alouettes in the Eastern Final at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium next Saturday, Nov. 7 at 3 p.m., a game that is already sold out. Some numbers from the CFL’s preview:
- Toronto is hosting a playoff game for the fifth time in six seasons and owns a 33-17-1 home playoff record.
- Winnipeg has made the playoffs 10 straight years and is crossing over to the East for the second year in a row.
- The teams split the season series: Winnipeg won 30-21 in Week 6, Toronto 30-28 in Week 17.
Watch the quarterback news. Zach Collaros is dealing with a ribs injury, and 3DownNation reported that Dru Brown took most of the first-team reps on Tuesday, with the team yet to name a starter. Brown came off the bench last week and went 11 for 11 for 185 yards and two touchdowns against BC. Star running back Brady Oliveira (ankle) also missed Tuesday’s practice. For Toronto, Chad Kelly completed 68.7 per cent of his passes for 610 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions over the two regular-season meetings.
We sized up both possible opponents in Argos or Bombers? earlier this week. Over in the West, Saskatchewan visits BC at 4:30 p.m. ET for the right to play in Edmonton.
Your Saturday sports schedule
- 1 p.m.: Winnipeg at Toronto, Eastern Semi-Final (TSN, CTV, RDS)
- 4:30 p.m.: Saskatchewan at BC, Western Semi-Final (TSN, RDS)
- 7 p.m.: Penguins at Canadiens, Bell Centre (Sportsnet East, TVA Sports)
And don’t forget: clocks fall back an hour overnight, so you can stay up for the highlights. More in our sports section. Go Habs Go!
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Photo: Pymouss / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources: NHL.com (Oct. 3 recap), NHL.com (St. Louis recap), NHL.com (Fowler), CFL.ca, 3DownNation, NHL standings data (Oct. 28)
