^{Two more sleeps then it’s home for a few}

Note: I will be out of town for the Montreal game, and will not have a recap. A big Congratulations to George and Emily! Be back tomorrow.

The Mammoth remain in Canada this weekend, getting back-to-back days of rest, following a back-to-back series with Toronto and Buffalo, to take on a back-to-back series between Montreal and Ottawa. Then they’ll have… you guessed it, back to back days off before coming home to the Delta Center.

Thankfully, after all this two-days-on, two-days-off stuff, they won’t have to do that any more for quite a while. Wait, what? Two more this month? Seriously?

OK, looking ahead is frustrating, so let’s focus on today. Today’s yet another difficult Eastern Division team in the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs are blisteringly hot, tied for tops in the division with 20 points, riding a 5 game point streak, with points in 7 of their last 8 games.

Division standings aren’t the only place Montreal sees themselves tied this year. The Canadiens have been in 7 overtime games already, including all four of their previous contests. Unlike Colorado who is first in the NHL because of loser points left and right, Montreal is winning most of their overtime games, with 5 sudden death or overtime victories. Thursday, they were on the road against previous best team in the division, the New Jersey Devils, defeating them in overtime 4-3.

Montreal has taken off like a rocket this year, which is not extremely surprising. A rebuilding team for years, they finally have gotten all their key pieces in place. They’re a shining example of doing a rebuild right, on just a slightly quicker pace than Utah’s been on.

What’s making Montreal so dangerous? Scoring, for one – they are top 5 in the league in scoring, averaging over 3.6 goals a game. They’re top 5 in power play percentage, with 12 goals on 41 trips. They start out fast, top 5 for goals in the first period. They end even better, with even more goals to close out the game. They’re young, fast, well conditioned, and have a ton of offensive weapons that force teams to spread defenses.

The odd and impressive thing about Montreal is the lethality in which they strike. The Canadiens are one of the lowest shot teams in the league. Bottom 5 shot attempts, top 5 goal scoring. What that means is they’re extremely selective on when they strike, and when they do they’re surgical.

A question mark coming into the year was the addition of Noah Dobson. Dobson, from my experience in watching him, is an electric offensive defenseman – but his defense is suspect more often than you want from a top player. However, pairing him with Mike Matheson has been a brilliant move for coach Martin St. Louis, who also were able to move Calder winner Lane Hutson down a line, sheltering him top defensive roles, but giving him even more offensive opportunities. Currently, Hutson is second in defensemen point production, behind some random guy named Cale Makar, producing a shade under 1 point per game. He’s not even padding stats as a power play merchant; he’s got 1 goal and 9 assists all at even strength.

His production comes along with the meteoric rise of the Montreal forward lines. Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield have been names that even more casual fans are starting to recognize. However, rookie and just 19 year old Ivan Demidov has broken into the league and is absolutely wrecking opposing defenses.

Utah fans may not remember Demidov’s name, however there was a possibility he would have been a Mammoth. He was picked in the selection right before Tij Iginla, a tantalizingly close asset that was just out of Utah’s grasp.

Overall, Utah will have to defend all over the ice. You’ve got split lines containing Suzuki (19 points), Caufield (16), and Demidov (12), up front, with Hutson (13) and Dobson (10) at the blue line. The Mammoth have a monumental task in how they’ll cover and limit chances here.

The only negative of Montreal’s season so far is Sam Montembeault not living up to his hype. Last year, Monty had 4 shutouts for the Habs, a goals against average just over 2.82, and save percentage average at a steady .902 which was almost his exact save percentage for the two years prior. However, he’s struggled a bit this year, as his save percentage through 7 games is just .855, by far his worst showing in his career. He’s also giving up nearly 3.7GAA, which makes Montreal’s 3.6 goals a game almost a necessity to keep games close.

The Canadiens have been leaning on Jakub Dobes quite a bit to start the year. Like Utah’s netminder tandem, Dobes is a fellow Czech who is now in his second year in the league. He played 15 games last year, but already has started 7 in the 2025 campaign. His performance has been stellar for Montreal, with a 2.55GAA and a .920 save percentage. The Habs thought Montembeault was their goalie of the future, but Dobes has been stealing the spotlight so far.

Key points to secure a victory today:

Drop Montreal’s shooting percentage Utah’s been great at shot suppression for most of the year. Utah’s averaging 24 shots against per game, best in the NHL. Montreal doesn’t care. They’re averaging 25 shots a game. What makes Montreal dangerous is their incredible scoring prowess; they’re averaging 14.6% shooting percentage. League average is about 10.9%, with the Mammoth coming in at 11.5%.

What that means is Montreal is fast and can get you out of position. They take advantage of this by getting into the slot and deep into the zone. Their shot heat map is a nightmare scenario for a goalie to look at; a giant red T that goes right above the goal line on both sides, and then straight down the middle of the ice.

That can’t happen because if it does, it’s going to end badly.

Win with special teams. The Canadiens are deadly with space, and giving them any advantage will be a mistake. Montreal doesn’t draw a lot of penalties; they are in the bottom 10 for opportunities drawn. Conversely, being a young team does cause them to be undisciplined at times, and they take a lot more penalties than average – they’re in the top 10 shorthanded teams in the league.

Montreal’s power play will kill you, but they’ll also be at high risk when put on the PK. With so many offensive defensemen, they don’t really have true shut down options. Dobson and Hutton life by the adage “The best defense is a good offense”, so when shorthanded, that offensive chance can bite them.

Keep disciplined If Montreal gets the lead – especially in the second period – the Mammoth will have to abandon some of their defensive gameplan to compensate. That will open ice for the Habs, and that’s the most dangerous position to be in. Getting a lead early would be great, but the most important thing is to not be in a hole leading into the third period. Desperate play will be sloppy play, and sloppy play against Montreal is a recipe for a loss.

Should the game go to overtime, two extremely fast, skilled teams playing with massive open ice would be a treat – but let’s hope we take this one in regulation.

Projected Lineup:
4AM post, no updates from the NHL, but the assumption would be Veggie starting.

Game time 5 PM local.

TUSKS UP!