Pre-season game 2: Montreal Canadiens vs. Philadelphia Flyers
Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
The Canadiens got a win with one half of their roster last night versus the Pittsburgh Penguins. This evening, the likes of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Lane Hutson, and Kaiden Guhle will hit the Bell Centre ice as we approach two weeks until the start of the season.
While fans will be looking forward to seeing those players, there are no concerns about roster spots for them. Those battles occur on every other line, pairing, and even tonight’s goaltending tandem. Joshua Roy has a place on what’s shaping up to be Montreal’s other middle-six line with Alex Newhook and newcomer Zachary Bolduc. Sammy Blais, Joe Veleno, and Vinzenz Rohrer form an interesting third line tonight of two veterans try to earn their place back in the NHL and a young prospect trying to show he has what it takes as well. A bruising fourth line of Luke Tuch, Tyler Thorpe, and Florian Xhekaj between them will at worst be one of the toughest AHL lines this season, though Xhekaj is looking to stick around with the team when the real games begin.
Arber gets the call to play alongside Alexandre Carrier, which could be Montreal’s third pair to start. In net, Jakub Dobeš and Kaapo Kähkönen will split the duties in a battle for the backup spot, though Dobeš’s body of work with the team last season likely gives him a leg up in the competition.
The Flyers brought a few more of their regular players than Pittsburgh did for last night’s game. They’ll dress Bobby Brink, Sean Couturier, Nicolas Deslauriers, Travis Sanheim, and Christian Dvorak, who gets an almost immediate return to the team he played for the past four seasons.
Philadelphia also has top prospects Jett Luchanko and Alex Bump on the trip as they try to claim spots on the team. Expect them to play the game as if it’s a regular-season affair, and hopefully the Canadiens learned their lesson from the first half of last night’s game that it will take a similar elevated effort to play this match.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| #13 Cole Caufield | #14 Nick Suzuki | #20 Juraj Slafkovský |
| #76 Zachary Bolduc | #15 Alex Newhook | #89 Joshua Roy |
| #27 Sammy Blais | #90 Joe Veleno | #96 Vinzenz Rohrer |
| #88 Luke Tuch | #63 Florian Xhekaj | #24 Tyler Thorpe |
| Left Defence | Right Defence |
|---|---|
| #21 Kaiden Guhle | #48 Lane Hutson |
| #72 Arber Xhekaj | #45 Alexandre Carrier |
| #79 Tobie Paquette-Bisson | #64 David Reinbacher |
| Starter | Backup |
|---|---|
| #75 Jakub Dobeṧ | #34 Kaapo Kähkönen |
Philadelphia Flyers roster
Tonight's Flyers roster for preseason game in Montreal pic.twitter.com/DbmHRPe6XF
— Kevin Kurz (@KKurzNHL) September 23, 2025
