Music: {allcanada} BLACKHAWKS (6-5-1) at CANADIENS (8-3-1)

Monday, November 3, 2014

{allcanada} BLACKHAWKS (6-5-1) at CANADIENS (8-3-1)

Blue Bloods / Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy - Helen Fielding

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

7:30 PM ET

BLACKHAWKS (6-5-1) at CANADIENS (8-3-1)

TV: CSN-CH, RDS, SNE

Season series: The Chicago Blackhawks and Montreal Canadiens split their two games last season, each winning in overtime on home ice. Chicago is 4-1-3 in the past eight games against Montreal, but the Canadiens haven't lost at home to the Blackhawks since Dec. 3, 2001. Chicago goaltender Corey Crawford, who's from the Montreal suburb of Chateauguay, started both games last season. He posted a 1.97 goals-against average and .941 save percentage.

Blackhawks team scope: Coming off three games in four days, the Blackhawks didn't practice Monday. They've dropped five of their past seven games, including both ends of a weekend back-to-back set, and still find scoring goals a challenge. Chicago hasn't scored a goal at United Center in seven consecutive periods, including 1-0 losses to the Anaheim Ducks and Winnipeg Jets in their past two home games. They lead the NHL at 38.4 shots per game, yet their shooting percentage as of Monday was 5.9 percent (28th). Crawford will likely get his third straight start after returning this past weekend from a two-week injury absence to play both games of the back-to-back. Forward Daniel Carcillo (knee) still has a couple weeks left until he's in the mix to return.

Canadiens team scope: Montreal, which is heading into a back-to-back set, couldn't overcome a season-long trend of falling behind early in a 6-2 loss Sunday against the Calgary Flames. It was the Canadiens first loss at Bell Centre and dropped their record to 1-2-1 in the past four games. Calgary thoroughly outplayed Montreal in the first, outshooting the Canadiens 19-4. It was the 10th time in 12 games the Canadiens have allowed the first goal. Coach Michel Therrien changed things up defensively at practice Monday, pairing Andrei Markov with P.K. Subban and moving Tom Gilbert with Alexei Emelin. Additionally, the experiment with left wing Alex Galchenyuk at center appears to be over. Galchenyuk started the game Sunday centering Rene Bourque and Brendan Gallagher, but the plan was scrapped after one period. Galchenyuk moved back to left wing on the line centered by Tomas Plekanec and stayed there at practice.

Team Stats