Game 36: Montreal Canadiens @ Tampa Bay Lightning
Start time: **5:00 PM EST / 2:00 PM PST**
In Canada: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Panthers region: FanDuel Sports Network Sun
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
Yesterday, the Tampa Bay Lightning played Andrei Vasilevskiy versus the New York Rangers, and claimed a 5-2 win in the first game of their weekend back-to-back. Today they will go with backup Jonas Johansson; far from a bad option with a .902 save percentage and a personal three-game winning streak coming into the match, but also clearly their second-best option. It’s up to the Canadiens today to make head coach Jon Cooper regret playing his number one versus the plummeting Rangers instead of a surging club from Montreal.
The constant factor in this end-of-year rise has been Jake Evans, entering this game on a four-game goal-scoring streak and authoring some of the best shifts the Canadiens have played over the past two weeks. Patrik Laine has been the offensive weapon on the power play to give the team the final edge needed, but Evans has been the one carrying his team through the hardest minutes at even strength.
All four lines, the three defence pairings, and a rested Samuel Montembeault need to be at their best today to beat a Lightning team that has lost just two times in December. Montreal tries to join the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers as the only teams to prevent Tampa Bay from claiming two points in that time.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #13 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#20 Juraj Slafkovský |
| #92 Patrik Laine |
#77 Kirby Dach |
#35 Alex Newhook |
| #51 Emil Heineman |
#71 Jake Evans |
#40 Joel Armia |
| #17 Josh Anderson |
#28 Christian Dvorak |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #48 Lane Hutson |
#8 Mike Matheson |
| #21 Kaiden Guhle |
#45 Alexandre Carrier |
| #72 Arber Xhekaj |
#58 David Savard |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #35 Samuel Montembeault |
#75 Jakub Dobeṧ |
Scratched: Michael Pezzetta, Jayden Struble
Tampa Bay Lightning projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Jake Guentzel |
Brayden Point |
Nikita Kucherov |
| Brandon Hagel |
Anthony Cirelli |
Conor Geekie |
| Gage Goncalves |
Nick Paul |
Mitchell Chaffee |
| Zemgus Girgensns |
Luke Glendening |
Cam Atkinson |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Victor Hedman |
Darren Raddysh |
| Ryan McDonagh |
Erik Cernak |
| Emil Lilleberg |
Nick Perbix |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Jonas Johansson |
Andrei Vasilevskiy |
