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

Montreal Canadiens vs. Winnipeg Jets

How to watch

Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In Canada: Sportsnet East/West, CityTV (English), TVA Sports (French)
Streaming: NHL.tv/NHL Live, Sportsnet Now

Montreal will see another season debut when Otto Leskinen steps in for his first game of the year. The Canadiens are obviously happy with the roving style that Alexander Romanov has been playing in his rookie year, especially since the COVID break, but still haven’t found the proper partner to complement him on the third pairing. The most impressive defenceman in the AHL this season, perhaps Leskinen can fill that role.

Some of the injured players are getting closer to returning, according to Dominique Ducharme in this morning’s press briefing. However, neither Joel Armia nor Carey Price are ready to jump back in just yet, and that means Jake Allen is back in for a third time in four games.

It didn’t start out well with three goals in the opening period, but those were all Allen allowed in the previous game to give his team a chance to pull even. He will surely want to give up less to the Jets this evening, but at some point he needs to get a bit of run support from a team that hasn’t scored more than two goals in the past two games.

Montreal Canadiens projected lineup

Scratched: Victor Mete
Injured: Ben Chiarot (broken hand), Brendan Gallagher (broken thumb), Carey Price (lower-body)
COVID unavailable list: Joel Armia

Winnipeg Jets projected lineup