Canadiens @ Stars: Game thread, rosters, lines, and how to watch

Montreal Canadiens @ Dallas Stars

How to watch

Start time: 8:30 PM EST / 5:30 PM PST
In the Canadiens region: TSN2, TSN Direct (English), RDS, RDS Direct (French)
In the Stars region: FS-SW+
Elsewhere: NHL.tv/Rogers NHL Live

Before the Habs head home for the new year, they’ve taken a bit of a detour from Florida to Texas to take on the Dallas Stars. Currently 3-2 on a six-game excursion away from the Bell Centre, the team has a chance to solidify a winning record, rather simply a .500 one, with a win against the eighth-place team in the west.

Dallas was done a bit of a favour by the New Jersey Devils this afternoon, who shut out the Vancouver Canucks and prevent the Canadian club from moving into the second wild-card seed. The Stars can gain a bit of separation should they pull off a victory this evening.

To keep that from happening, the Canadiens will send forth a lineup nearly identical to the one from Saturday’s 6-5 loss in Tampa Bay, swapping out Matthew Peca for Nicolas Deslauriers on the fourth line. Antti Niemi gets a third consecutive start, going up against one of his old teams looking to get himself back on track, and send his team home on a high note.

Montreal Canadiens projected lineup

Dallas Stars projected lineup