GAMETHREAD: Vancouver @ Les Habitants

Television: SN 1, SN 360, NHL.TV

Radio: TSN 1040 (with a snazzy new streaming Web site design)

Opposition blog: Habs Eyes on the Prize

Money lines: Van +1.5, Mtl -223, 5.0 O/U

Sometimes hitting the road is the best tonic for struggling teams. Hopefully that’s the case for the Vancouver Canucks, who missed a great chance to amass points during a home heavy early schedule.

On this trip Vancouver is facing a stiff test right off the bat. Montreal is 8-0-1 and have allowed the fewest goals against per game in the NHL. Vancouver, as has been well documented, struggles to score. A Canadiens win would mark their best start in history with 19 out of 20 points. But don’t forget what happened last season when a similarly high-flying Montreal Canadiens team were beaten in Vancouver.

Canucks appear to be well represented in the stands:

Joey’s pregame tidbits:

Montreal lines:

Alexander Radulov — Alex Galchenyuk — Brendan Gallagher

Max Pacioretty — David Desharnais — Andrew Shaw

Artturi Lehkonen — Tomas Plekanec — Paul Byron

Phillip Danault — Torrey Mitchell — Brian Flynn

Alexei Emelin — Shea Weber

Andrei Markov — Jeff Petry

Nathan Beaulieu — Greg Pateryn

Carey Price

Al Montoya

Always fun to watch a game from Montreal. Enjoy, everyone! Go Canucks Go!