Tonight the Canadiens stop in Atlanta completing a four game road trip with a record of 2-1-0 currently, and an impressive record of 4-1-1 since January 1st. A win tonight for the Habs would be their 16th road win of the season tying them with San Jose for the league lead.
The Thrashers are leading the tight Southeast division right now and have been hot lately going 3-1-1 in their last five.
Atlanta has won both meetings with the Habs (in shootouts 3-2) so far this season and would love to add another two points to their record while adding some breathing room to the division lead.
The Canadiens who boast the second best road record in the league and are only one point behind Pittsburgh for fourth spot in the Conference, and eight points behind Ottawa for the division lead.
Quick Thrashers Facts:
NHL goal leader Ilya Kovalchuk is looking to improve on his 10 game point streak but he has been held off the scoresheet against the Habs in both games this year.
Marian Hossa has always done well against the Habs and he has put up 4 points in his last 2 games including a hat trick against Detroit in a 5-1 win for Atlanta.
The oft injured Kari Lehtonen is also hot right now with a sparkling 2-0-0 record, 1.44 GAA, .962 SV% in last 2 games played.
Quick Canadiens Facts:
The Line of Kostitsyn, Plekanec, and Kovalev has been on fire of late and consistently the best offensive line for the Canadiens. Although the entire line is scoring at a point per game pace, Tomas Plekanec has 11 points in his last 7 games and has reached the 40 point mark for a second consecutive season. Tomas sits just eight points shy of establishing a new career-high.
Chris Higgins has been reunited with Saku Koivu after an experiment on various other lines, and will look to contribute more offense as a result.
Cristobal Huet has lost only one game in regulation in almost a month starts his fifth straight game looking to increase his win totals and fifth overall SV% save percentage.
The Canadiens team defense has improved for Huet’s last four starts allowing less than 30 shots per game.