Canadiens vs. Lightning: Game thread, rosters, lines, and how to watch

Montreal Canadiens vs. Tampa Bay Lightning

How to watch

Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In the Canadiens region: TSN2, TSN Direct (English), RDS, RDS Direct (French)
In the US: NBCSN
Streaming: NHL.tv / NHL Live

The Canadiens handily dispatched 2019’s Stanley Cup-winner on Saturday night, and this evening they’ll look to knock off the team that seemed destined for the trophy after an incredible performance in the 2018-19 regular season.

It hasn’t been the start many expected from the club that met a shockingly quick playoff exit in April. Five games into the season there are five teams in the Atlantic Division alone ahead of them in the standings, though this early on it wouldn’t take long to close the gap.

An effort similar to what the Canadiens produced on Saturday will help keep the Lightning’s poor start going. There are no lines to be exploited on Montreal’s roster this year, with competition for all spots rather than last year’s desperate attempts to find a group to represent the bottom trio.

Even with just 13 forwards, the battle to stay in the formation isn’t easy, and on Monday it appeared that Nick Suzuki would have to hand his place to Nick Cousins for tonight’s game. However, at practice today the rookie was back in his right-wing spot, so we’ll have to see what the actual lineup is when warm-ups take place this evening.

There’s also competition on defence, but for now Claude Julien is satisfied with his bottom pairing of Ben Chiarot and Christian Folin. They managed to hold steady versus the St. Louis Blues on the weekend, and now the coach can see how they fare versus one of the top offensive units in the league.

Montreal Canadiens projected lineup

Tampa Bay Lightning projected lineup