Game 81: Montreal Canadiens @ New York Islanders
Start time: **6:00 PM EDT / 3:00 PM PDT**
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Islanders region: MSGSN
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
Rather than focusing on trying to claim home-ice advantage for the playoffs, the Montreal Canadiens’ attention has now turned to setting three defence pairings for when the post-season begins. They know they won’t have Noah Dobson for the first few playoff games, and the status of both Kaiden Guhle and Alexandre Carrier remains unknown.
The replacement options will face a New York Islanders team that has ramped up its physical play under new head coach Peter DeBoer. Outside of his first game, versus a Toronto Maple Leafs team that wants to lose games, the offence hasn’t changed for the team, scoring zero goals in a critical matchup on Saturday afternoon.
New York’s leading point total from Mathew Barzal is the same as Nick Suzuki’s season assist total, which reached 71 yesterday. The Islanders might be good at keeping the puck out of their net, but they’ve had trouble scoring their own goals all season, averaging just 2.84 on the year. That lack of finishing ability might benefit Montreal’s inexperienced blue line that can perhaps get away with a mistake or two today, though not if those errors happen right in front of their netminder.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #13 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#20 Juraj Slafkovský |
| #85 Alexandre Texier |
#15 Alex Newhook |
#93 Ivan Demidov |
| #76 Zachary Bolduc |
#91 Oliver Kapanen |
#77 Kirby Dach |
| #71 Jake Evans |
#24 Phillip Danault |
#17 Josh Anderson |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #8 Mike Matheson |
#21 Kaiden Guhle |
| #47 Jayden Struble |
#48 Lane Hutson |
| #72 Arber Xhekaj |
#64 David Reinbacher |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #32 Jacob Fowler |
#75 Jakub Dobeš |
Injured: Alexandre Carrier, Noah Dobson
Scratched: Adam Engström, Brendan Gallagher, Patrik Laine, Samuel Montembeault
New York Islanders projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Anders Lee |
Bo Horvat |
Simon Holmstrom |
| Brayden Schenn |
Mathew Barzal |
Calum Ritchie |
| Ondrej Palat |
Jean-Gabriel Pageau |
Emil Heineman |
| 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 |
