Game 52: Montreal Canadiens @ Anaheim Ducks
Start time: **4:00 PM EST / 12:00 PM PST**
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Ducks region: KTTV, Victory+
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
The Canadiens begin what has become a very important road trip this afternoon in Anaheim when they visit the Ducks for their one and only time this season. The Habs’ recent slump has dropped them back of a few teams they worked so hard in late December through early January to pass in the standings, and need to do some of that work all over again.
To start with a win, they need to avoid the counter-attack goals that the Minnesota Wild feasted on in the previous game. One of the best ways to do that is to take advantage of the offensive-zone time they receive, something they were unable to do on Thursday despite several cases of changing on the fly with long stints in Minnesota’s end. Martin St-Louis had the players working on their offensive tactics in yesterday’s practice, with the aim of not coming up empty when they have the opponent hemmed.
Samuel Montembeault will be looking for his first win in three games today, going up against Lukas Dostal in the Anaheim crease. The Ducks are struggling to score goals, but Montembeault will need to ensure they don’t get any easy ones as the Canadiens look to fix some offensive issues of their own.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
#13 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#20 Juraj Slafkovský |
#92 Patrik Laine |
#77 Kirby Dach |
#35 Alex Newhook |
#17 Josh Anderson |
#71 Jake Evans |
#40 Joel Armia |
#55 Michael Pezzetta |
#28 Christian Dvorak |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
Left Defence |
Right Defence |
#8 Mike Matheson |
#45 Alexandre Carrier |
#72 Arber Xhekaj |
#48 Lane Hutson |
#47 Jayden Struble |
#58 David Savard |
Starter |
Backup |
#35 Samuel Montembeault |
#75 Jakub Dobeṧ |
Scratched: Owen Beck, Logan Mailloux, Michael Pezzetta
Injured: Kaiden Guhle, Emil Heineman
Anaheim Ducks projected lineup
Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
Frank Vatrano |
Ryan Strome |
Troy Terry |
Trevor Zegras |
Leo Carlsson |
Alex Killorn |
Cutter Gauthier |
Mason McTavish |
Robby Fabbri |
Jansen Harkins |
Isac Lundestrom |
Brett Leason |
Left Defence |
Right Defence |
Lackson LaCombe |
Radko Gudas |
Pavel Minyukov |
Jacob Trouba |
Brian Dumoulin |
Drew Helleson |
Starter |
Backup |
Lukas Dostal |
John Gibson |