Game 69: Montreal Canadiens vs. Colorado Avalanche
Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In the Canadiens region: CityTV, Sportsnet East (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the Avalanche region: Altitude
Streaming: ESPN+, CityTV, Sportsnet+
As I write this article, the New York Rangers have beaten the Vancouver Canucks in regulation, and the New York Islanders are tied 2-2 with the Calgary Flames after two periods. So far, those unintentionally well-timed cross-conference battles are going the way of the Eastern Conference teams in a wild-card chase. The Rangers have tied the Montreal Canadiens at 74 points, though have needed three more games to make that happen, while the Islanders would at least temporarily pass the Habs with a win of any kind over the Flames.
Montreal knows that every game is important down the stretch, but tonight is a particularly big one as it’s their home send-off for their last long road trip of the season: four games beginning on Tuesday. If you include tonight’s game versus the Avalanche, only one of the Habs’ next five will be played versus a team lower than them in the league standings.
The perfect send-off would be a win over Colorado. That won’t be easy, but neither was a shootout win versus the Avalanche on January 4, nor the two game they contested last season which were both regulation wins for Montreal. At least in recent history the underdog Canadiens have been unfazed by one of the league’s elite clubs, but Colorado has added a completely new cast of bottom-nine centres since the most recent match, so it’s a deeper squad that has arrived at the Bell Centre.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #13 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#20 Juraj Slafkovský |
| #51 Emil Heineman |
#71 Jake Evans |
#40 Joel Armia |
| #89 Joshua Roy |
#15 Alex Newhook |
#92 Patrik Laine |
| #17 Josh Anderson |
#28 Christian Dvorak |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #8 Mike Matheson |
#45 Alexandre Carrier |
| #47 Jayden Struble |
#48 Lane Hutson |
| #72 Arber Xhekaj |
#58 David Savard |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #35 Samuel Montembeault |
#75 Jakub Dobeṧ |
Scratched: Michael Pezzetta
Injured: Kirby Dach, Kaiden Guhle
Colorado Avalanche projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Jonathan Drouin |
Nathan MacKinnon |
Valeri Nichushkin |
| Artturi Lehkonen |
Brock Nelson |
Martin Necas |
| Joel Kiviranta |
Charlie Coyle |
Ross Colton |
| Parker Kelly |
Jack Drury |
Logan O’Connor |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Devon Toews |
Cale Makar |
| Ryan Lindgren |
Sam Malinski |
| Keaton Middleton |
Erik Johnson |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Mackenzie Blackwood |
Scott Wedgewood |
