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

Montreal Canadiens vs. Florida Panthers

How to watch

Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Panthers region: Bally Sports Florida
Streaming: ESPN+, NHL Live, RDS Direct, TSN Direct

We won’t see the Canadiens debut of either of the defencemen acquired at the trade deadline tonight, but there will still be a player contesting his first game for the Habs. Montreal is doubling its complement of Pitlicks, as Tyler steps into the lineup for the first time, taking the place of Jonathan Drouin, who is isolating after a positive COVID case for one of his close contacts.

All indications are that Nick Suzuki will be able to go after there were some question about his status yesterday, keeping his streak of playing every game this season intact, which is great news for the Habs’ ability to hang with their opponent tonight.

The Florida Panthers have a very talented top-six group that was made even more potent with the addition of Claude Giroux on Monday. He drops right onto the top line with Aleksander Barkov, so expect him to finish with at least a point while playing with the team’s top goal-scorer. The odds are in Jonathan Huberdeau’s favour to help make that goal total reach at least two, as he sports a team-leading points-per-game average of 1.39.

The player sure to get the most attention will be Ben Chiarot, who is playing the Canadiens in his first game with his new team. Like Giroux, he is also slotting into a key spot in the lineup, taking top-pairing duties with MacKenzie Weegar, and likely to see significant time on the penalty kill as well.

Montreal Canadiens projected lineup

Florida Panthers projected lineup