Game 5: Montreal Canadiens vs. Los Angeles Kings
Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Kings region: Bally Sports West
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
While Jayden Struble has been cleared to return from injury, he won’t be making his season debut in the final game of this three-game stint at the Bell Centre. Instead the Canadiens will once again run the same lineup as last game. That extends to the crease as well, as Samuel Montembeault will play all three games of this run at home.
The Habs will host a Los Angeles Kings club missing Drew Doughty and trying to piece together a defence corps without him. The formation is beginning to stumble as the team wraps up its season-opening tour of the Atlantic Division, allowing eight goals versus the Ottawa Senators and then six versus the Toronto Maple Leafs last night. A third game in four nights likely isn’t going to improve matters.
A Canadiens team still trying to play a consistent 60 minutes has a chance to build a bit of momentum before heading to Long Island on Saturday if they can make this the first game they put everything together. They’ve had a full day off to rest followed by a couple of practices to address their defensive issues, so we’ll see if they can go out and grab the two points that are readily available to them tonight.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
#13 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#20 Juraj Slafkovský |
#35 Alex Newhook |
#77 Kirby Dach |
#40 Joel Armia |
#17 Josh Anderson |
#71 Jake Evans |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
#51 Emil Heineman |
#28 Christian Dvorak |
#91 Oliver Kapanen |
Left Defence |
Right Defence |
#48 Lane Hutson |
#21 Kaiden Guhle |
#8 Mike Matheson |
#52 Justin Barron |
#72 Arber Xhekaj |
#58 David Savard |
Starter |
Backup |
#35 Samuel Montembeault |
#30 Cayden Primeau |
Los Angeles Kings projected lineup
Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
Alex Laferriere |
Anze Kopitar |
Adrian Kempe |
Trevor Moore |
Phillip Danault |
Warren Foegele |
Kevin Fiala |
Quinton Byfield |
Trevor Lewis |
Andre Lee |
Alex Turcotte |
Tanner Jeannot |
Left Defence |
Right Defence |
Mikey Anderson |
Vladislav Gavrikov |
Caleb Jones |
Brandt Clarke |
Kyle Burroughs |
Jordan Spence |
Starter |
Backup |
David Rittich |
Pheonix Copley |