Game 37: Montreal Canadiens @ Vegas Golden Knights
Start time: **3:00 PM EST / 12:00 PM PST**
In Canada: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Golden Knights region: SCRIPPS Sports
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
When Montreal and Las Vegas met for the first time, a Team Canada roster battle between Adin Hill and Samuel Montembeault was one of the subplots. Things didn’t go well for the Canadiens goalie as he allowed five goals on 25 shots through 40 minutes, and wasn’t called upon to play the final 20. In the end, both netminders were named to the 4 Nations Face-Off squad, and they’ve settled into much better play following that announcement at the start of the month.
Montembeault is receiving a major helping hand from the team in front of him digging in on the defensive side. With Alexandre Carrier in the lineup, Martin St-Louis is confident in all three of his pairings, and the reaction from the players so far has been just two goals allowed through the opening two games of the road trip versus strong offensive teams.
The Golden Knights are another of those clubs who can get a goal from any line at any time, but it’s also their team defensive play that’s responsible for a current six-game winning streak. They’re typically scoring just three goals per game, but held opponents to two or fewer goals in nine of the 11 games played in December so far. It might take a lot for both teams to find their offence today with how solid the tactics have become in the respective defensive ends.
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 |
| #51 Emil Heineman |
#71 Jake Evans |
#40 Joel Armia |
| #17 Josh Anderson |
#28 Christian Dvorak |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #48 Lane Hutson |
#8 Mike Matheson |
| #21 Kaiden Guhle |
#45 Alexandre Carrier |
| #72 Arber Xhekaj |
#58 David Savard |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #35 Samuel Montembeault |
#75 Jakub Dobeṧ |
Scratched: Michael Pezzetta, Jayden Struble
Vegas Golden Knights projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Victor Olofsson |
Jack Eichel |
Mark Stone |
| Tomas Hertl |
William Karlsson |
Keegan Kolesar |
| Tanner Pearson |
Brett Howden |
Pavel Dorofeyev |
| Jonas Rondbjerg |
Cole Schwindt |
Alexander Holtz |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Noah Hanifin |
Alex Pietrangelo |
| Brayden McNabb |
Shea Theodore |
| Nic Hague |
Zach Whitecloud |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Adin Hill |
Ilya Samsonov |
