Game 70: Montreal Canadiens vs. Carolina Hurricanes
Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Hurricanes region: FanDuel Sports Network South
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
Thank to three wins over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the past two weeks, the Carolina Hurricanes have all but locked up the Metropolitan Division by taking a 10-point lead over their nearest competitor. Now the Hurricanes are about to get a heavy dose of the Montreal Canadiens, playing the final two games of the season series in less than a week.
Montreal took the first win between the two teams this year, and is therefore seeking to wrap up the season series with another victory tonight. The points are more vital for the Canadiens who have just a two-point edge on the Detroit Red Wings who sit outside of the playoff picture, so every point will be precious from now until the final regular-season game on April 14.
The Hurricanes have been finding a lot of offence coming out of the Olympics, and six of their forwards have double-digit point totals in the 13 games played since. Nikolaj Ehlers has been their top goal-scorer with seven in that time, while Seth Jarvis paces everyone with 16 points. The Habs can’t quite match that depth of production, but they do have a more impressive top trio. Cole Caufield comes in hot with 11 goals in 11 games, and in one of those matches he was too ill to take a regular shift. He just scored a hat trick on Saturday night in a blowout of the New York Islanders, and will be looking for another big performance in front of the Bell Centre crowd.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #13 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#20 Juraj Slafkovský |
| #15 Alex Newhook |
#91 Oliver Kapanen |
#93 Ivan Demidov |
| #76 Zachary Bolduc |
#71 Jake Evans |
#85 Alexandre Texier |
| #17 Josh Anderson |
#24 Phillip Danault |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #8 Mike Matheson |
#53 Noah Dobson |
| #47 Jayden Struble |
#48 Lane Hutson |
| #21 Kaiden Guhle |
#45 Alexandre Carrier |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #75 Jakub Dobeš |
#32 Jacob Fowler |
Injured: Kirby Dach
Scratched: Patrik Laine, Samuel Montembeault, Joe Veleno, Arber Xhekaj
Carolina Hurricanes projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Andrei Svechnikov |
Sebastian Aho |
Seth Jarvis |
| Taylor Hall |
Logan Stankover |
Jackson Blake |
| Nikolaj Ehlers |
Jordan Staal |
Jordan Martinook |
| William Carrier |
Mark Jankowski |
Eric Robinson |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Jaccob Slavin |
Jalen Chatfield |
| K’Andre Miller |
Sean Walker |
| Mikey Reilly |
Alexander Nikishin |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Frederik Andersen |
Brandon Bussi |
