Game 22: Montreal Canadiens @ Columbus Blue Jackets
Start time: 7:30 PM EST / 4:30 PM PST
In Canada: Sportsnet East (English)
In the Canadiens region: RDS (French)
In the Blue Jackets region: FanDuel Sports Network Ohio
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, Sportsnet+
Mike Matheson remains out of the lineup with his lower-body injury, so Montreal’s defence remains the same for the second half of a back-to-back. That means another heavy workload for both Kaiden Guhle and Lane Hutson, but hopefully they won’t have to face as much time on the penalty kill as they did last night at home.
Martin St-Louis’s new lines didn’t really inspire the team to better things versus Utah HC, and you have to wonder if the constant changing of linemates is making it tough for some already struggling players. But what they really need to do is get the puck to the front of the net for shots, and that should be a standard tactic no matter what the combinations are.
Cayden Primeau gets the start after Samuel Montembeault helped take the team to overtime last night. It will be Primeau’s sixth start of the season, and he’s going for just his second win. sporting a 4.59 goals-against average. At least on the opposite side, Elvis Merzlikins is also under a .900 save percentage this season, so it will be up to the skaters to limit what gets through to their goaltenders to decide the game’s outcome.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #13 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#35 Alex Newhook |
| #20 Juraj Slafkovský |
#28 Christian Dvorak |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
| #89 Joshua Roy |
#77 Kirby Dach |
#17 Josh Anderson |
| #51 Emil Heineman |
#71 Jake Evans |
#40 Joel Armia |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #48 Lane Hutson |
#21 Kaiden Guhle |
| #72 Arber Xhekaj |
#58 David Savard |
| #47 Jayden Struble |
#52 Justin Barron |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #30 Cayden Primeau |
#35 Samuel Montembeault |
Scratched: Michael Pezzetta
Conditioning loan: Rafaël Harvey-Pinard
Injured: Patrik Laine, Mike Matheson
Columbus Blue Jackets projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Dmitri Voronkov |
Sean Monahan |
Kirill Marchenko |
| Yegor Chinakov |
Adam Fantilli |
Kent Johnson |
| Zach Aston-Reese |
Justin Danforth |
Mathieu Olivier |
| James van Riemsdyk |
Sean Kuraly |
Kevin Labanc |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Zach Werenski |
Dante Fabbro |
| Ivan Provorov |
Damon severson |
| Jake Christiansen |
Jordan Harris |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Elvis Merzlikins |
Daniil Tarasov |
