Canadiens @ Islanders: Game thread, rosters, lines, and how to watch

Montreal Canadiens @ New York Islanders

How to watch

Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In Canada: Sportsnet East, CityTV (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the Islanders region: MSGSN

A couple of days removed from a game started by a celebration of one of the franchise’s most exciting players and ended by its newest star, the Canadiens have hit the road for two games within a 24-hour period.

The brief trip through New York finds Cole Caufield flirting still with a 50-goal pace after his two markers on Thursday. His second game-winning goal of the season gave Montreal two wins in its last three matches following a seven-game losing streak, and they can keep that hot stretch going at UBS Arena.

To do that, Cole and co. will have to find ways to solve Ilya Sorokin, and that has proven to be a real puzzle for most teams this year. The goaltender sits second in the NHL among those with at least two starts with a .926 save percentage, behind only Boston Bruins standout Linus Ullmark in that category.

Despite that performance, Sorokin holds just a 14-14-2 record this year as the Islanders’ offensive game isn’t at the same level of their netminder’s defensive play. The Habs’ makeshift defence will try to keep it that way tonight.

Montreal Canadiens projected lineup

Forwards

Defencemen

Goaltenders

Scratched: Mike Hoffman, Michael Pezzetta
Injured: Jake Allen, Paul Byron, Brendan Gallagher, Kaiden Guhle, Mike Matheson, Sean Monahan

New York Islanders projected lineup

Forwards

Defencemen

Goaltender