Game 69: Montreal Canadiens vs. New York Islanders
Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In Canada: CityTV, Sportsnet East (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the Islanders region: MSGSN
Streaming: ESPN+, Sportsnet+
At the time of writing, the Pittsburgh Penguins have won their game versus the Winnipeg Jets in a shootout, while the Columbus Blue Jackets’ unstoppable march up the order has them out to a 3-1 lead over the Seattle Kraken through one period of play. Those are big results for the Eastern Conference playoff race, especially for the New York Islanders who have lost their seeded position in the Metropolitan Division to Columbus.
A little scoreboard watching should be all the motivation a post-season hopeful needs at this point in the season, knowing a lost game (like the one the Montreal Canadiens had in Detroit on Thursday) could allow one or two teams to get past in the playoff race. The Habs themselves will be looking up at the scoreboard to check on the result of a match between the Red Wings and Boston Bruins that begins as the second period starts, featuring two teams that are both trying to get past Montreal.
As things stand, the Canadiens are in control of their situation, but they need to get on a bit of a run and start to feel good about their play. Right now the pressure of the situation is leading to a lot of anger, and that’s not a good place to be in with every moment so critical down the stretch.
Some calm is required, and there’s no better person to provide it than Jacob Fowler, who gets the start tonight. He didn’t get much help in his last start at home versus the Anaheim Ducks, yet still held the team in the contest before a breakdown allowed the Ducks to score a late winner. It’s a strong defensive team the Canadiens play, and they know their own defending needs to be strong, as it has been for the most part in all of these important intraconference games in the past 11 days. It will require that extra effort to find the winning goal for the Habs to claim a critical win this evening.
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 |
| #90 Joe Veleno | #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 |
|---|---|
| #32 Jacob Fowler | #75 Jakub Dobeš |
Injured: Josh Anderson, Kirby Dach
Scratched: Patrik Laine, Samuel Montembeault, Arber Xhekaj
New York Islanders projected lineup
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| Anders Lee | Bo Horvat | Mathew Barzal |
| Anthony Duclair | Brayden Schenn | Emil Heineman |
| Ondrej Palat | Jean-Gabriel Pageau | Simon Holmstrom |
| Calum Ritchie | 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 |
