Poehling appears to be a rather introspective guy, well aware of the reasons why things didn\u2019t work out for him in camp a month ago. According to him, it was a case of overthinking what he thought the Habs wanted his game to look like.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou try to acclimate yourself to a fourth line spot but in reality you can just go out and play your same game,\u201d acknowledged Poehling after the morning skate<\/a>. \u201cI think that\u2019s the biggest thing is just the reason why you\u2019re here is what you did in Laval. I talked to the coaches\u2026and they want to see me play offensively like I do in Laval. So I don\u2019t want to come up here and kind of be hesitant and think \u2018oh, I\u2019m in a fourth line spot, this is what I have to do.\u2019 I think it\u2019s just don\u2019t worry about it and play how you have been playing.\u201d<\/p>\n In a bid to help the 22-year old get comfortable, head coach Dominique Ducharme will play him with two other Rocket regulars in Alex Belzile and Michael Pezzetta.<\/p>\n Jonathan Drouin will miss his fourth straight game with a head injury. Despite Ducharme saying he isn\u2019t dealing with a concussion, the ongoing headaches he\u2019s experiencing aren\u2019t a great sign that he\u2019ll be back in game shape anytime soon.<\/p>\n Christian Dvorak and Josh Anderson both missed practice yesterday but are expected to play tonight. Jake Allen will get the start in goal.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how the Montreal Canadiens are expected to line up against the Calgary Flames this evening.<\/p>\n Forwards<\/p>\n Hoffman \u2013 Suzuki \u2013 Toffoli<\/p>\n Anderson \u2013 Dvorak \u2013 Gallagher<\/p>\n Lehkonen \u2013 Evans \u2013 Armia<\/p>\n Pezzetta \u2013 Poehling \u2013 Belzile<\/p>\n Defencemen<\/p>\n Chiarot \u2013 Petry<\/p>\n Kulak \u2013 Savard<\/p>\n Romanov \u2013 Wideman<\/p>\n Goalies<\/p>\n Allen<\/p>\n Montembeault<\/p>\n A bad matchup for the Habs<\/p>\n Maybe it\u2019s a good thing they didn\u2019t land Jack Eichel.<\/p>\n The Calgary Flames seem to have all of the ingredients to make life particularly miserable for the Montreal Canadiens this evening.<\/p>\n The 7-1-2 Flames appear to have a team in the image of their coach Darryl Sutter. Calgary signed forward Blake Coleman in the summer to add even more toughness and grit to go along with Matthew Tkachuk and Andrew Mangiapane.<\/p>\n In the skill department, Elias Lindholm and Johhny Gaudreau co-lead the team in points with 14 in 12 games. After a slow start that saw him spend some time on the fourth line, even Sean Monahan is rounding into form with three points in his last five games.<\/p>\n Speaking of toughness, the Calgary blueline can leave you battered and bruised in front of the net. People movers Chris Tanev, Nikita Zadorov and Erik Gudbranson can bring the pain while Noah Hanifin, Oliver Kylington and Rasmus Andersson are all above-average skaters and puck movers.<\/p>\n And if you get through that mass of humanity, there is one of the best goalies in the league in 6\u20196 behemoth Jacob Markstrom. It\u2019s early days but he appears to be in Vezina trophy nominee mode with a goals-against average of 1.69 and a .940 save percentage. That is ridiculously good, no matter the sample size.<\/p>\n Perhaps the most obvious and telling stat of all: the Montreal Canadiens score less goals per game than the Flames allow per game. The Habs are second in the worst in the league, scoring on average just two goals each contest. Meanwhile, Calgary are the second stingiest team in the NHL averaging just 2.17 goals against.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how the Calgary Flames are expected to line up against the Montreal Canadiens tonight per Puckpedia<\/p>\n Forwards<\/p>\n Gaudreau \u2013 Lindholm \u2013 Tkachuk<\/p>\n Coleman \u2013 Monahan \u2013 Mangiapane<\/p>\n Dube \u2013 Backlund \u2013 Lewis<\/p>\n Lucic \u2013 Richardson \u2013 Pitlick<\/p>\n Defencemen<\/p>\n Hanifin \u2013 Andersson<\/p>\n Kylington \u2013 Tanev<\/p>\n Zadorov \u2013 Gudbranson<\/p>\n Goalies<\/p>\n Markstrom<\/p>\n Vladar<\/p>\n NOTES<\/p>\n In 128 games between the Montreal Canadiens and Calgary Flames, the Habs have a winning record of 67-44-15-2 \t\t \t\tMarc has been covering the Habs for over a decade. He previously worked for Journal Metro, The Athletic, The … More about Marc Dumont<\/a><\/p>\n \t
\nIn the Canadian division last year, the Flames won six of nine meetings against the Canadiens
\nCalgary are 7-0-0 against Eastern Conference opponents so far this season; they\u2019ve also won five straight road games. It\u2019s their longest road winning streak since 2016-17
\nJohnny Gaudreau (508) is one point away from catching Mark Giordano (509) for eighth on the franchise\u2019s all-time scoring list
\nSean Monahan (444) can make some history of his own; he\u2019s just one point away from catching Paul Reinhart (445) for 12th most in franchise history<\/p>\n![\"avatar\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769489172_413_07ba55ead0c73509df880c421e3023e5ac7c7d9f55b4c9b9a5aeeb184bcdf689.png\")
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