NHL: The Canadian visits the Stars in Dallas

Catch the CH-Stars game on RDS and RDS.ca.

Summary (Canadiens 2 – Stars 0, 2nd Period)

Jake Evans gave himself an early Christmas present. Early in the game, Evans bolstered the Canadiens’ performance by scoring his first goal of the season in his 34th game. He slid through the star defense at the end of the power play to score his first goal since April 29, assisted by Michael Pezzetta and Jordan Harris.

If CH’s Triple Four has often been criticized for its lack of production, everything seemed to be held up against Dallas. In the early moments of the mid-period, Pezzetta was back on the charge. On a two-on-one climb, Pezzetta fired a perfect wrist shot to score his second goal of the season and double Montreal’s lead.

Pre-match notes

After collecting three points out of four possible points since the start of his journey, the Canadian Made a final stop in Dallas, to meet starsbefore returning home for the very short Christmas break.

To face the stars, Martin St. Louis made an important decision: to part ways Nick Suzuki And the Cole Cofield. Suzuki will triple axle with Jonathan Darwin And the Joel JeremiahWhile Cofield will find himself by his side Kirby Dash Based on Mike Hoffman.

St. Louis confirmed earlier on Friday thatEvgeny Dadonov He would give up his place in the formation in favour Michael Pezzetta.

Although CH have collected three points out of a possible four since the start of their seven-game journey, the performances they put in are far from reassuring. Samuel Montembolt And the Jake Allen They excelled at the gridiron, the main reason for the Canadiens’ success despite their performance.

“I just want better Toy Overall…we still have results in the last two games, but we’re not playing to our standards right now,” said St. Louis.

The Stars pose a formidable challenge, sitting atop the Central Division with a 19-9-6 record. If Dallas has had so much success since the start of the season, they can thank their young winger Jason Robertson. The 23-year-old American has 24 goals and 24 assists for a total of 48 points in 34 games. Martin St. Louis will have to keep an eye on whoever finishes third in NHL goalscoring Connor McDavid And the Tagus Thompson.

However, the success of the Stars is not limited to No. 21. After an impressive performance in the last qualifying round, goalkeeper Jake Oettinger Still impressive. The 24-year-old goaltender has a record of 13 wins and five losses, with a 0.919 save percentage and a 2.47 goals against average.

The stars are playing Toy Very simple, but also very fast. They play a lot from inside and we have to be ready for this challenge. »

For their part, the Habs will try to make more of an offensive contribution for their goalkeeper Jake Allen, who was only worth one goal, a goal.Anthony Richard, in the last game against the Avalanche. Allen will also be back in front of the cage for the grapple.