Canadiens at Devils
THE STORY: The Montreal Canadiens will have a new piece with which to play when they visit the New Jersey Devils on Saturday. The Canadiens on Friday completed a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes, bringing defenseman Tomas Kaberle to the Habs. Kaberle was a member of the Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins last season before signing a three-year deal with the Hurricanes in the offseason. Montreal gave up defenseman Jaroslav Spacek, who has been on injured reserve since last month, in the deal. The Devils have turned their fortunes lately, winning two straight in extra time. They are coming off a dramatic win over the Ottawa Senators in which they blew a three-goal lead but still managed to recover in time for a shootout.
TV: 1 p.m. ET, CBC, RDS, NHL Network, MSG+
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (11-11-7): Montreal has dropped six of seven to fall back into last place in the Northeast Division, with four of those setbacks coming in overtime or a shootout. The inability to close out games was one reason to bring in Kaberle, who has excelled as a point man on the power play in his career. The Canadiens are converting just 11.4 percent of their opportunities with the man advantage, including 1 of 36 over the last nine games. Montreal squandered a three-goal lead in Thursday’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Vancouver Canucks.
ABOUT THE DEVILS (14-12-2): The Canadiens should not count on many power-play goals against New Jersey, which leads the NHL with a 94.1 penalty-kill percentage. The Devils have had more success in extra time recently, ending a four-game losing streak with a 3-2 overtime victory at Toronto on Tuesday and outlasting Ottawa 5-4 in a shootout on Thursday. New Jersey pulled goalie Martin Brodeur after the first period on Thursday – the second time in three starts that the future Hall of Famer has been lifted.
OVERTIME:
1. Kaberle has recorded 32 points in 45 career games against the Devils.
2. New Jersey recalled defensemen Matt Taormina and Alexander Urbom from the AHL on Friday, placing Andy Greene and Cam Janssen on injured reserve.
3. The visiting team has taken each of the last seven meetings in the series.