Game 25: Montreal Canadiens vs. New York Islanders
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Islanders region: MSGSN
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
A few weeks before we probably expected it, Patrik Laine’s debut will happen tonight at the Bell Centre, When he was introduced in the first game of the season, standing just outside the tunnel on his crutches, you could see the emotions swirling in his head: bashful at all the attention, happy to be in a city that cared so much about hockey, devastated that he couldn’t actually play in front of the loudest fans in the league. Tonight, there won’t be a bittersweet feeling, just the joy to finally being back on the ice.
The Canadiens didn’t hold up their end of the bargain in Laine’s absence to stay in the playoff mix while he recovered, so it’s not a playoff spot he’ll be helping the team fight for. That may benefit him in the long run as the expectations that weighed his teammates down in the first 24 games are no longer present for his debut and shortened season to follow.
Fans also have lowered expectations on what to expect from a player who missed so much time. Kirby Dach was expected to slip right into the second-line centre role and thrive there from those initial introductions, but is only now starting to see his game come around, with some stumbles still along the way. Dach will be on the ice with Laine tonight for his shifts, and the two players can now figure out how to get back to their peak form together.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #13 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#35 Alex Newhook |
| #20 Juraj Slafkovský |
#77 Kirby Dach |
#92 Patrik Laine |
| #17 Josh Anderson |
#28 Christian Dvorak |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
| #51 Emil Heineman |
#71 Jake Evans |
#40 Joel Armia |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #21 Kaiden Guhle |
#8 Mike Matheson |
| #48 Lane Hutson |
#47 Jayden Struble |
| #72 Arber Xhekaj |
#58 David Savard |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #35 Samuel Montembeault |
#30 Cayden Primeau |
Scratched: Justin Barron, Michael Pezzetta
New York Islanders projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Anders Lee |
Bo Horvat |
Simon Homstrom |
| Maxim Tsyplakov |
Brock Nelson |
Kyle Palmieri |
| Kyle MacLean |
Jean-Gabriel Pageau |
Oliver Wahlstrom |
| Matt Martin |
Xasey Cizikas |
Hudson Fasching |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Alexander Romanov |
Ryan Pulock |
| Isaiah George |
Noah Dobson |
| Dennis Cholowski |
Scott Mayfield |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Ilya Sorokin |
Marcus Hogberg |
