Head coach:Martin St. Louis (Second season)
Season Stats: Goals per game: 2.94 (20th) | Scoring defense: 3.31 (21st) | PP: 15.9 percent (29th) | PK: 79.6 percent (13th)
The narrative: It's been a roller coaster in Montreal since the Habs made a stunning run to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, as last year was a full-on disaster until Dominique Ducharme was replaced by St. Louis. The Canadiens chose first overall in the 2022 draft and chose Juraj Slafkovsky to anchor a rebuilding effort that has seen both ups and downs to this point in the season.
2022-23 leaders:Youth has led the way, a good sign for a team that feels it's building something for the future. Captain Nick Suzuki (23 years old) is one of 14 players in the league with double digits in goals with a 10-9-19 line in the team's 16 games, while Cole Caufield (22) is capitalizing on his immense promise as the 2019 first-round pick has a 9-7-16 line. Kirby Dach (22), also a first-round pick that year who was acquired from Chicago in the offseason, has four goals and 10 assists, while 2020 first-rounder Kaiden Guhle (21) leads the defensemen with seven points.
In net, the Blue Jackets will see Sam Montembeault, who is 3-1-1 with a 2.38 GAA and .930 save percentage in five games.
What's new:The Habs are riding a bit of a hot streak coming to Columbus, as the team had won three in a row before falling Tuesday to red-hot New Jersey. Slafkovsky is just 18 but the massive Slovak youngster has notched three goals to this point. On the injury front, legendary goalie Carey Price is unlikely to play this year, while notable names Joel Armia, Jonathan Drouin and Mike Matheson have missed games of late.
Trending:Columbus has points in seven games in a row in the series, posting a 6-0-1 mark in that span and sweeping last year's three-game series. In all, the Blue Jackets hold a 12-4-2 mark in the last 18 contests.
Former CBJ:St. Louis spent part of the 2018-19 season with the Blue Jackets as a special teams consultant. In his third season with Montreal, Josh Anderson has four goals and six points, while David Savard is now healthy after an injury-plagued first year with the Habs and has played in all 16 games with six helpers.