The Montreal Canadiens are coming off an impressive first half this season and currently sit in second place (32-14-3) in the tightly packed Eastern Conference standings. The club sits just one point back of the Tampa Bay Lightning but currently holds two games in hand. The top-eight teams are separated by just eight points in the East. From there, the gap widens substantially, so barring a monumental collapse, the Habs are in line to return to the playoffs in 2015.

The Canadiens have relied on a balanced attack and tremendous goaltending thus far with the usual suspects leading the charge. Max Pacioretty once again leads the Habs in scoring with 23 goals and 17 assists. He is followed by impressive young center, Alex Galchenyuk. Galchenyuk has taken great strides this season as he has smoothly transitioned from playing the wing and has moved to his natural position of center. After an auspicious start, P.K. Subban has picked up his play as of late as well. While the Habs are able to roll four lines, they are not exactly an offensive juggernaut. They desperately need offensive contributions from the back end, particularly from Subban and Andrei Markov, especially on the power-play. Despite the solid start from the Habs, there have been some disturbing trends with this team that will need to be addressed if the club hopes to have a deep playoff run this spring.

Carey Price has been outstanding in goal for the Canadiens in 2014-15. Most good teams deploy great goaltending. The Canadiens in recent weeks though, have become much too reliant on Price. The Habs have repeatedly gotten off to slow starts. First period goal scoring has been almost non-existent. Fortunately for the Canadiens, Price has not given up much to the opposition in the opening frame. The Habs once vaunted power-play has struggled for much of the season. The club will need to become more efficient with the man-advantage as the season moves forward. The Canadiens are not a team that is built to play from behind. So for now, the first goal of the game will continue to carry significant weight. On Sunday, the Canadiens lost for just the 2nd time this season when scoring the first goal. The Habs have been bailed out by Price in many of their victories, which makes their record somewhat deceiving. While they can continue to expect great play from Price, they are going to need a solid sixty minutes from all eighteen skaters on a consistent basis if they expect to remain perched atop the standings.

This evening at the Bell Center, the Habs will once again welcome back two popular former Canadiens, Brian Gionta and Josh Gorges, as the Buffalo Sabres come to town. Fresh off being named the NHL’s First Star of the week, Carey Price will be in goal for the Canadiens. The Sabres currently sport the league’s worst record (14-33-3) but have played the Habs very tough this year, taking five out of a possible six points in the first three match-ups. The Canadiens will be looking to avenge being swept on back-to-back nights when the teams last met in late-November. Coming off Sunday’s lackluster performance versus the Arizona Coyotes, in which the Habs blew and early two-goal lead, it will be interesting to see how Michel Therrien’s club comes out of the gate tonight. Puck drops at 7:30!