Game 13: Montreal Canadiens vs. Calgary Flames
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Flames region: SNW
Streaming: ESPN+, Sportsnet+, RDS, TSN+
The number-one thing that needed to be addressed by the Canadiens was the defence, and you could say, to some extent, they did that by holding the Pittsburgh Penguins to three goals on Saturday. However, Montreal was only able to score one goal of their own, and now the team that looked dangerous on offence in the opening couple of weeks has scored just six times during this three-game losing streak. Ending this run of losses will require the team to take care of business at both ends of the rink.
With that as the goal, Martin St-Louis has promoted his most consistent player, Jake Evans, to the second line to help Alex Newhook and Juraj Slafkovský find that same level. The play of the two wingers to end last season was one of the reasons for optimism for 2024-25, but so far they haven’t been close to last year’s form.
Evans’s promotion means more time as the top-line right-winger for Kirby Dach as he, too, desperately seeks consistent performances of his own. There are signs of him getting things turned around, then long periods when he struggles. At some point you have to think these top-six players will regress to more typical individual performances, and when they do that the team should look much better. For now, they just need to find a way to cobble together a full-game effort to find a foothold as they drop down the order in the Atlantic Division.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #13 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#77 Kirby Dach |
| #35 Alex Newhook |
#71 Jake Evans |
#20 Juraj Slafkovský |
| #11 Brendan Gallagher |
#28 Christian Dvorak |
#17 Josh Anderson |
| #51 Emil Heineman |
#91 Oliver Kapanen |
#40 Joel Armia |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #8 Mike Matheson |
#21 Kaiden Guhle |
| #48 Lane Hutson |
#58 David Savard |
| #72 Arber Xhekaj |
#47 Jayden Struble/td>
|
| Starter |
Backup |
| #35 Samuel Montembeault |
#30 Cayden Primeau |
Scratched: Justin Barron, Michael Pezzetta
Injured: Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Patrik Laine
Calgary Flames projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Connor Zary |
Nazem Kadri |
Andrei Kuzmenko |
| Blake Coleman |
Mikael Backlund |
Matt Coronato |
| Jonathan Huberdeau |
Yegor Sharangovich |
Anthony Mantha |
| Ryan Lomberg |
Justin Kirkland |
Martin Pospisil |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Kevin Bahl |
Rasmus Andersson |
| Mackenzie Weegar |
Daniil Miromanov |
| Tyson Barrie |
Brayden Pachal |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Dustin Wolf |
Dan Vladar |
