Canucks at Canadiens: Five Things You Need to Know

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Here are five things to know about Monday’s game between the Canadiens (6-15-2) and the Vancouver Canucks (6-14-2) at the Bell Center. (7:30 p.m., SNE, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).

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Two in a row? The Canadiens, who are 4-6-1 at home, will be looking to win a second straight game for the first time this season. The Canadiens’ offensive stats got a boost Saturday night in Pittsburgh with three empty net goals in a 6-3 win over the Penguins, but still have a goal differential of minus 29 for the season (second worst in NHL behind Arizona minus-38) and have been outscored 74-25 in their 17 losses.

The first star: Jake Allen was the Canadiens’ first star on Saturday, stopping 47 of the 50 shots he faced while improving his record to 5-9-1 with an average of 3.02 goals against and a .902 save percentage. The Canadiens are 2-9-1 on the road and Allen has both road wins, facing 95 combined shots in those two games. Allen stopped all 45 shots he faced in a 4-0 win over the Sharks in San Jose on Oct. 28.

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They all count: Josh Anderson scored two of the empty net goals for the Canadiens on Saturday and Tyler Toffoli scored the other. Three of Anderson’s seven goals this season have been empty scorers and two of Toffoli’s five goals have been goalless. For Toffoli, who also had two assists on Saturday, it was his first goal on the road this season. Toffoli leads the Canadiens in scoring with totals of 5-10-15, followed by Nick Suzuki (4-11-15) and Anderson (7-6-13).

Two franchises in trouble: The Canadiens began cleaning the house on Sunday, announcing that general manager Marc Bergevin and assistant general manager Trevor Timmins had been fired, while assistant general manager Scott Mellanby resigned on Saturday. Canucks fans are probably expecting the same thing to happen in Vancouver with just six wins in their first 22 subsequent games. Sunday night’s 3-2 loss to the Bruins in Boston . Much more was expected of the Canucks this season and the pressure is definitely on general manager Jim Benning and head coach Travis Green. JT Miller leads the Canucks in scoring with totals of 7-12-19, followed by Connor Garland (6-9-15) and Quinn Hughes (2-13-15). No. 1 goalkeeper Thatcher Demko is 6-10-1 with a GAA of 3.07 and a .904 save percentage. The Canucks have a 3-8-1 road record.

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Remember us? Montreal and Vancouver met nine times last season in the all-Canadian Northern Division, with the Canadiens posting a 6-0-3 record and outscoring the Canucks 41-26. Those games against Vancouver are a big reason why the Canadiens were able to make the playoffs, winning fourth and last in the division with a 24-21-11 record, four points ahead of fifth-place Calgary Flames. The Canadiens were 18-21-8 against the other teams in the division. Toffoli was 8-5-13 totals in the eight games he played against Vancouver and finished the season as the Canadiens’ leading scorer with totals of 28-16-44 in 52 games. This will be the first of only two games between the Canadiens and the Canucks this season. The teams will meet again on March 9 in Vancouver.

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