Game 56: Montreal Canadiens vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
Start time: **1:00 PM EST / 10:00 AM PST**
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Lightning region: FanDuel Sports Network Sun
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
A hectic schedule leading up to the 4 Nations Face-Off comes to an end on Super Bowl Sunday as the Canadiens wrap up their second back-to-back of the week. They will have just four such sets in the two months after the pause, versus the seven they’ve played since December 19.
Today there’s no reason to conserve any energy for the majority of the players who will be getting two weeks off while the mid-season tournament takes place. They will also be heavily motivated to earn the sweep of a Tampa Bay Lightning team that has gotten the better of them in recent history, and have at least an impact on their rival’s playoff chances even if it’s too late to improve their own.
Joel Armia and especially Patrik Laine will want to go into the tournament on a high note. Armia has been playing well for most of the season anyway, but Laine’s impact has dipped considerably over the past month or so. With his power-play offence dried up, his five-on-five play has suffered, and he’s been too hesitant in his play. He can’t go into an international best-on-best tournament second-guessing himself, so this will be an important game for him to get into the right mindset to take on, and play with, the elite players in the NHL.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #13 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#20 Juraj Slafkovský |
| #92 Patrik Laine |
#71 Jake Evans |
#40 Joel Armia |
| #35 Alex Newhook |
#77 Kirby Dach |
#17 Josh Anderson |
| #62 Owen Beck |
#28 Christian Dvorak |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #48 Lane Hutson |
#8 Mike Matheson |
| #47 Jayden Struble |
#45 Alexandre Carrier |
| #72 Arber Xhekaj |
#58 David Savard |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #75 Jakub Dobeṧ |
#35 Samuel Montembeault |
Scratched: Logan Mailloux, Michael Pezzetta
Injured: Kaiden Guhle, Emil Heineman
Tampa Bay Lightning projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Jake Guentzel |
Anthony Cirelli |
Nikita Kucherov |
| Brandon Hagel |
Brayden Point |
Gage Goncalves |
| Zemgus Girgensons |
Nick Paul |
Mikey Eyssimont |
| Mitchell Chaffee |
Luke Glendening |
Dylan Duke |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Victor Hedman |
Darren Raddysh |
| Ryan McDonagh |
Erik Cernak |
| Emil Lilleberg |
Nick Perbix |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Andrei Vasilevskiy |
Brandon Halverson |
