Game 19: Montreal Canadiens vs. Edmonton Oilers
Start time: 7:30 PM EST / 4:30 PM PST
In the Canadiens region: RDS (French)
Streaming: ESPN+ (USA), Prime Video (CAN), RDS
Tonight, the Canadiens will honour Pierre Houde for his Foster Hewitt Award before the game. I’m sure the chance to exclaim his famous “Et le but!” call on multiple occasions would be his preferred way to celebrate the achievement.
Perhaps that will be for Lane Hutson’s first in the NHL. The rookie has come very close, saying he wants to put a bit more into his shots to finally get his first one. I don’t think he needs to do much of anything differently since he’s beaten NHL goalies several times, he just needs the puck to stop hitting the post after it does.
There are plenty of other players who could bring out the call tonight, especially should the Canadiens get on a power play. Shea Weber’s ceremony inspired Mike Matheson to take some slapshots from long range last game, and while that isn’t as successful a strategy as it once was, we shouldn’t complain too loudly about the top unit actually putting a shot toward the net rather than spending 90 seconds looking for the perfect setup. Edmonton is the worst team in the league at prevented goals while down a man, which should serve as another source of inspiration.
Though the Oilers aren’t the offensive force they usually are, they’re still always a threat to break out in a big way, so defence will also be a big focus for the Canadiens. They know they have four days off following this game, not playing again until Saturday, and should be able to commit a full 60-minute effort to getting a third win in the past four games.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| #20 Juraj Slafkovský | #14 Nick Suzuki | #77 Kirby Dach |
| #35 Alex Newhook | #71 Jake Evans | #13 Cole Caufield |
| #17 Josh Anderson | #28 Christian Dvorak | #11 Brendan Gallagher |
| #51 Emil Heineman | #82 Lucas Condotta | #40 Joel Armia |
| Left Defence | Right Defence |
|---|---|
| #21 Kaiden Guhle | #8 Mike Matheson |
| #48 Lane Hutson | #58 David Savard |
| #72 Arber Xhekaj | #47 Jayden Struble |
| Starter | Backup |
|---|---|
| #35 Samuel Montembeault | #30 Cayden Primeau |
Scratched: Justin Barron, Michael Pezzetta
Injured: Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Patrik Laine
Edmonton Oilers projected lineup
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | Connor McDavid | Zach Hyman |
| Vasily Podkolzin | Leon Draisaitl | Corey Perry |
| Mattias Janmark | Adam Henrique | Connot Brown |
| Jeff Skinner | Derek Ryan |
| Left Defence | Right Defence |
|---|---|
| Mattias Ekholm | Evan Bouchard |
| Brett Kulak | Ty Emberson |
| Travis Dermott | Josh Brown |
| Troy Stecher |
| Starter | Backup |
|---|---|
| Calvin Pickard | Stuart Skinner |
