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

Montreal Canadiens vs. Minnesota Wild

How to watch

Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Wild region: Bally Sports North, Bally Sports Wisconsin

Saturday’s meeting at the Bell Centre was a clash between the best defence in the NHL and a surprisingly strong one on Montreal’s side. The Habs were allowing an average of under three goals per game, which not many would have expected given how young the blue line was heading into the season. That average didn’t hold, however, as Joe Pavelski himself netted three goals in the game, and Montreal allowed five goals for the first time this year.

Tonight the Canadiens play the team at the extreme opposite end of the defensive spectrum. Minnesota surrenders about three-and-a-half more goals per game than Dallas does. The team really isn’t so bad defensively as they allow under 30 scoring chances per 60 minutes of five-on-five time, ranking 12th in the league in that category, but they simply aren’t getting the goaltending to keep pucks out of their net.

It should be a chance for the Canadiens to get a few of their players going offensively. The line of Evgenii Dadonov, Christian Dvorak, and Brendan Gallagher has just one goal so far through six games, and they’d all like to be bigger contributing factors on the scoreboard to help the Habs end their homestand with a 3-1 record.

Montreal Canadiens projected lineup

Scratched: Michael Pezzetta
Injured: Joel Armia, Paul Byron, Joel Edmundson, Mike Matheson, Juraj Slafkovský

Minnesota Wild projected lineup