Game 58: 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+
The Montreal Canadiens and New York Islanders have taken very different paths to similar places in the standings. The Canadiens sport the NHL’s third-best offence, overcoming the defensive errors they make and their substandard goaltending by scoring enough goals to counter those shortcomings. The Islanders are the league’s third-best defence, backed by the stellar play of Ilya Sorokin in net to allow just 2.71 goals per game, and that’s helping a below-average offence score just enough goals to win games.
Sorokin’s counterpart will be Samuel Montembeault tonight as Montreal comes out of the break hoping their regular starter is back on form. Montembeault looked strong in the last game before the Olympics, allowing just one goal to the Winnipeg Jets. It would take a lot of pressure off the team if he could be the player he had been the previous two seasons and make timely saves to prevent the odd goal against.
It would also be helpful if Brendan Gallagher could play the way he did in that game in Winnipeg. On a night when none of Montreal’s top scorers hit the scoresheet, he had three points to help lead the victory. The Canadiens are receiving great production from Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, and exceptional five-on-five offence from Juraj Slafkovský, Ivan Demidov, and Oliver Kapanen. Alex Newhook’s return will change the offensive outlook of the third line, so if Gallagher, Phillip Danault, and Josh Anderson can also be regular contributors on the fourth line, that might propel the offence even higher down this final stretch toward the post-season.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #13 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#77 Kirby Dach |
| #20 Juraj Slafkovský |
#91 Oliver Kapanen |
#93 Ivan Demidov |
| #15 Alex Newhook |
#71 Jake Evans |
#85 Alexandre Texier |
| #17 Josh Anderson |
#24 Phillip Danault |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #8 Mike Matheson |
#21 Kaiden Guhle |
| #48 Lane Hutson |
#53 Noah Dobson |
| #47 Jayden Struble |
#45 Alexandre Carrier |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #35 Samuel Montembeault |
#75 Jakub Dobeš |
Scratched: Zachary Bolduc, Joe Veleno, Arber Xhekaj
Injured: Patrik Laine
New York Islanders projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Ondrej Palat |
Bo Horvat |
Mathew Barzal |
| Jonathan Drouin |
Calum Ritchie |
Emil Heineman |
| Anders Lee |
Jean-Gabriel Pageau |
Simon Holmstrom |
| Kyle MacLean |
Casey Cizikas |
Marc Gatcomb |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Matthew Schaefer |
Ryan Pulock |
| Adam Pelech |
Tony DeAngelo |
| Carson Soucy |
Scott Mayfield |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Ilya Sorokin |
David Rittich |
