Game 82: Montreal Canadiens vs. Carolina Hurricanes
Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In Canada: Sportsnet East/Ontario/One (English)
In the Canadiens region: RDS (French)
In the Hurricanes region: FanDuel Sports Network South
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, Sportsnet+
The Canadiens could not have asked for any more from their opponent for the final game of the regular season when the Habs need a point. None of Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, Jordan Staal, and Jaccob Slavin are in the lineup as the organization looks for a bit of rest for its star players ahead of the post-season. Unlike the Chicago Blackhawks who wanted to prove to themselves that next year could be better and gave Montreal a real test (along with the Winnipeg Jets and Ottawa Senators to close out the season), the Hurricanes will mostly be hoping no one gets injured before what they hope is a long playoff run.
Against this roster, Montreal needs to claim one point, something they have managed in each of the past two games, including versus that inspired Blackhawks team. Montreal does have a somewhat fresh Ivan Demidov on the third line, and tonight they will also have Emil Heineman back in for the first time since April 5, so his body has been recuperating for two weeks now. He hasn’t been the same impactful player since returning to the lineup after the 4 Nations break with just one point in 20 games after amassing 17 in the first 41 matches. But he plays hard along the boards battling for the puck, and on a team that didn’t have the energy to do that last game, that effort could just be the difference in getting a goal for his line or the second power-play unit.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #13 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#20 Juraj Slafkovský |
| #17 Josh Anderson |
#28 Christian Dvorak |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
| #92 Patrik Laine |
#15 Alex Newhook |
#93 Ivan Demidov |
| #51 Emil Heineman |
#71 Jake Evans |
#40 Joel Armia |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #21 Kaiden Guhle |
#48 Lane Hutson |
| #8 Mike Matheson |
#45 Alexandre Carrier |
| #47 Jayden Struble |
#58 David Savard |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #35 Samuel Montembeault |
#75 Jakub Dobeṧ |
Scratched: Oliver Kapanen, Michael Pezzetta. Joshua Roy, Arber Xhekaj
Injured: Kirby Dach
Carolina Hurricanes projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Andrei Svechnikov |
Jesperi Kotkaniemi |
Taylor Hall |
| Eric Robinson |
Mark Jankowski |
Jack Roslovic |
| William Carrier |
Skyler Bind’Amour |
Logan Stankoven |
| Domenick Fensore |
Tyson Jost |
Bradly Nadeau |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Dmitry Orlov |
Brent Burns |
| Shayne Gostisbehere |
Sean Walker |
| Riley Stillman |
Scott Morrow |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Pyotr Kochetkov |
Frederik Andersen |
