|
The surging Montreal Canadiens attempt to earn a rare victory in Washington when they visit the Capitals at Verizon Center. You can watch the game on TSN at 7pm et/4pm pt and listen to the game on TSN Radio 690 in Montreal. After starting the month of November on an 0-3-1 slide, the Canadiens have recorded wins in three of their last five outings (3-1-1). However, Montreal has also lost four of six and seven of its past 10 games in Washington. With the Canadiens playing on back-to-back days, Peter Budaj will get the start tonight while Carey Price is scheduled to play Saturday against Pittsburgh. Budaj is 0-2-1 with a 2.95 goals against average in four career outings against the Capitals. Montreal turned in its best offensive performance of the season in its most recent trip to the ice, setting a season-high in goals with Tuesdays 6-2 home victory over Minnesota. Max Pacioretty scored the first three goals of the game to notch his second career hat trick and lead the way in the rout of the Wild. Pacioretty had just two goals in 12 games this season before more than doubling his total with Tuesdays outburst. The American winger fired a career-high 10 shots on goal against the Wild. "Ive missed a lot of good opportunities lately and it started getting in my head that I couldnt score," Pacioretty told his teams official website after the game. Michael Bournival, Daniel Briere and Alex Galchenyuk also lit the lamp for the Canadiens, while Carey Price made 25 saves for the win. Montreal, which is playing three of its next four games on the road, is just 1-3-0 as the visiting team in November. The Capitals will try bounce back after having their momentum halted the last time out. The Capitals had won three in a row and scored four times in each game during that hot streak before getting dealt a 4-0 home loss by the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday. It marked just the second time this season Washington had been blanked and the first time since the New York Rangers recorded a 2-0 win in D.C. on Oct. 16. Washington also was outshot by a wide 40-18 margin in Wednesdays loss, which ended a six-game home winning streak for the Caps and dropped them to 8-4-0 at the Verizon Center this season. The club hadnt lost on home ice since the 2-0 setback versus the Rangers last month. While Marc-Andre Fleury needed only to make 18 stops to record the shutout for Pittsburgh, Capitals netminder Braden Holtby turned aside 36-of-40 shots in a losing effort. The Pens fired 32 shots at Holtby through the first two periods alone and held a 3-0 edge after 40 minutes of action. "Theres lots of ways to lose games, and thats not really one way you want to do it," Washington head coach Adam Oates said after the disappointing effort. Washington could get a boost from the return of defenseman Mike Green on Friday. The offensive-minded blueliner sat out the past three games with a lower-body injury, but expects to play tonight. Green has 11 points -- all assists -- in 19 games this season. The Caps hope Green can help them get back in the win column tonight in the finale of a three-game homestand. Washington has had tons of success against the Canadiens in recent years, winning two straight and eight of the past nine overall meetings between the clubs. .Y. - DeMarre Carroll felt as though he couldnt miss in the second quarter as he outscored the Brooklyn Nets 14-13 all by himself. .J. Hardy to avoid a three-game sweep after blowing a big early lead. Odour had a leadoff single in the seventh and scored the tiebreaking run with the help of two errors by Hardy as the Rangers went on to beat the Orioles 8-6 on Thursday night. . -- Detroit shortstop Jose Iglesias says he has stress fractures in both legs and isnt sure when hell be able to play again, leaving the Tigers two weeks to fill his spot for opening day and perhaps a lot longer. . The Swede became the first golfer to win the PGA Tours FedEx Cup and European Tours Race to Dubai in the same season. "It is still taking a little time to sink in what Ive achieved this week as was the case when I won the FedEx Cup but then it just kept getting better and better as the days went on and I am sure this will be the same," he said. . Patty Mills had 20 points, Tim Duncan had 11 points and 13 rebounds in limited action, and San Antonio rolled to a 110-82 victory over Milwaukee that kept the Bucks winless in the new year.ATLANTA -- Arizona manager Kirk Gibson found no fault with Josh Collmenter after the right-hander settled down in the third inning. Collmenter gave up a career-high 11 hits, and the Diamondbacks couldnt solve Ervin Santana or the Atlanta bullpen in a 5-2 loss to the Braves on Friday night. "He went out there and did the best he could and got through six innings. We were unable to score runs," Gibson said. Freddie Freeman drove in two runs, and Santana won his second straight start for Atlanta, which stretched its winning streak to eight games. Arizona began the night tied with Houston for the most losses in the majors with 51. The Diamondbacks have lost seven of 11. "Were trying everything we can to turn around things, but its not happening," third baseman Martin Prado said. "Were trying to have good at-bats and everything. I feel like were pretty close. Theres a bunch of guys having good at-bats." After earning three victories from June 20-28, Collmenter (7-5) allowed five runs, one walk, and struck out three in six-plus innings. The Braves have won 10 of 11 to move 10 games over .500 for the first time since April 29. They lead the NL East by 1 1/2 games. Santana (7-5) gave up six hits and two runs with one walk and six strikeouts in 7 1-3 innings. The Braves made it 2-0 in the first on Freemans RBI single and Jason Heywards RBI groundout. Atlanta went up 4-1 in the third on Andrelton Simmons bases-loaded RBI single and Justin Uptons RBI walk, but Collmenter stranded the bases loaded when Heyward popped out. Collmenters night ended after Simmons led off the seventh with a double. Oliver Perez, the next Arizona pitcher, allowed another RBI single by Freeman to make it 5-1. "I wasnt missing so much up in the zone as missing over the plate, enough for them to get a piece of the ball," Collmenter said. &qquot;I just didnt capitalize on my opportunities when I could have made a pitch.dddddddddddd" Santana seemed in sync most of the night, but that hasnt been the case over the last few weeks. After winning 2-0 against the Cubs on May 10, Santana went 1-5 with a 5.96 ERA over his next eight starts before earning a 10-3 victory last Saturday at Philadelphia. "Everything my way is getting back again, so I just have to keep it up," Santana said. "Keep my mind positive and keep working down in the zone." Santana retired 11 straight before Didi Gregorius singled to begin the eighth. He left the game one out later when Ender Inciarte singled. After Luis Avilan retired David Peralta on an RBI forceout, Jordan Walden gave up a double to Paul Goldschmidt before striking out Miguel Montero to end the threat. In the ninth, Craig Kimbrel struck out Prado, retired Gerardo Parra on a groundout and got Nick Ahmed to fly out for his 27th save in 31 chances. Arizona cut the lead to 2-1 in the second when Prado led off with a single, moved to second and third on groundouts and scored on Santanas wild pitch. Santana didnt make many mistakes. "He was spotting," Prado said. "I saw him pretty good, but he was commanding his fastball. They took advantage of the first inning and scored a couple runs, and that was good enough for him." NOTES: Collmenter allowed 10 hits in a 6-0 loss at Detroit on June 25, 2011. ... The Braves announced a sellout with a season-high crowd of 48,815. ... Freeman, who went 2 for 4, is hitting .365 over his last 19 games. ... Atlantas bullpen has a 0.42 ERA over a span of 21 2-3 innings during the eight-game winning streak. ... Peralta went 2 for 4 and is hitting .406 over his last nine games. ... Perez had stranded 10 straight inherited runners before Freeman drove in Simmons. ' ' '
|
