Ducks @ Canadiens GAMETHREAD: Ring The Bell

GAME #34

Anaheim Ducks @ Montreal Canadiens

Tuesday December 20th, 2016 4:30 PM PST

Bell Centre

TV: PRIME

Radio: AM 830, AnaheimDucks.com

Your Enemy: Eyes On The Prize

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It's another combined preview/gamethread! Because we here at Anaheim Calling are innovative and forward-thinking and not at all hungover from celebrating Cam Fowler's epic bar down, game winning bomb last night.

Nope.

The Ducks finish off their back-to-back slate facing the Montreal Canadiens for the final time this season. While the Canadiens are still a force to be reckoned with, their usual stellar play has slipped somewhat as they are 5-3-2 in their last 10 with 2 of those wins coming overtime. This has allowed New York, Chicago, and Pittsburgh to leapfrog them in the overall NHL standings.

Nevertheless, the Ducks will want to keep their foot on the gas pedal in order to finish the road trip strong between tonight's game and Thursday in Ottawa. The Ducks have a record of 6-6-2 in Montreal, which is a lot better than their record in some of the other buildings on this road trip *cough* Joe Louis *cough* Air Canada Centre *cough*.

The Ducks are expected to face Carey Price again in net. Anaheim has gotten the better of Price in his career, with the netminder going 1-5-1 with a .915 SV% and 2.62 GAA.

Luckily for Anaheim, noted Duck-killer Shea Weber has recently fallen off a cliff offensively. He is in the middle of a 9 game point drought which stands in stark contrast to his scorching play earlier this season.

The Ducks will also not have to face Andrei Markov tonight as the defenseman will be missing his first game since April 3rd, 2015 due to a lower-body injury sustained in Saturday night's game against the Washington Capitals.

Stat Pack

Projected Lines

Anaheim:

Rakell-Getzlaf-Perry

Cogliano-Kesler-Silfverberg

Ritchie-Vermette-Kase

Cramarossa-Noesen-Shaw

Fowler-Vatanen

Lindholm-Manson

Theodore-Bieksa

Bernier

Gibson

Montreal:

Pacioretty-Danault-Radulov

Byron-Mitchell-Gallagher

Lehkonen-Plekanec-Flynn

Terry-McCarron-Carr

Emelin-Weber

Beaulieu-Petry

Barberio-Redmond

Price

Montoya

Numbers For Nerds

Cam Fowler is finally beginning to look like the Scott Neidermayer 2.0 we were all promised when he was drafted. Last night, Fowler passed Shea Weber to take over sole possession of 2nd in the league in goals scored among defensemen with 9 on the season; 4 behind the one and only Brent Burns (who's cheating by being a forward disguised as a defenseman but whatever). Obviously he's slated to obliterate his career high of 10 goals set in his rookie 2010-2011 season. He's also currently tied with Chicago's Duncan Keith for 5th in points among defensemen.