Game 62: Montreal Canadiens @ Edmonton Oilers
Start time: **9:00 PM EST / 6:00 PM PST**
In Canada: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Oilers region: Sportsnet West
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
As if it hasn’t been hard enough for the Edmonton Oilers to win games lately, tonight they will have to play without defenceman Mattias Ekholm, their second-most-used player this season at 22:36 per game, behind Evan Bouchard, and the order is the same in terms of offence from their blue line. A team that has allowed at least four goals in all but one game since the 4 Nations now has to play without its top defensive player.
Montreal doesn’t really care who is in the opposing lineup, they should be flying regardless after learning that the roster won’t be significantly impacted by a trade of Jake Evans this season. The players were practically pleading with Kent Hughes in the media to leave the group intact and see how far they could go, and with less than 24 hours to go before the deadline, it seems the man in charge has listened.
Now the players need to prove to the GM that they can at least stay close in the playoff race and turn this season into important experience for the core players after forgoing future assets. Evans himself should be motivated to reward the team’s faith in him, but we also need to see further progression from Juraj Slafkovský, Arber Xhekaj, Jayden Struble, Owen Beck, and Emil Heineman who will all want to show that they can keep their places on a more competitive roster next season. Playoffs would be a nice bonus for the group, but these final 21 games will still be important from a development perspective for a lot of the players.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #13 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#20 Juraj Slafkovský |
| #51 Emil Heineman |
#71 Jake Evans |
#40 Joel Armia |
| #15 Alex Newhook |
#62 Owen Beck |
#92 Patrik Laine |
| #17 Josh Anderson |
#28 Christian Dvorak |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #8 Mike Matheson |
#45 Alexandre Carrier |
| #47 Jayden Struble |
#48 Lane Hutson |
| #72 Arber Xhekaj |
#58 David Savard |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #35 Samuel Montembeault |
#75 Jakub Dobeṧ |
Injured: Kirby Dach, Kaiden Guhle
Scratched: Michael Pezzetta
Edmonton Oilers projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Ryan Nugent-Hopkins |
Connor McDavid |
Zach Hyman |
| Vasily Podkolzin |
Leon Draisaitl |
Viktor Arvidsson |
| Mattias Janmark |
Adam Henrique |
Connor Brown |
| Max Jones |
Kasperi Kapanen |
Corey Perry |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Darnell Nurse |
Evan Bouchard |
| Brett Kulak |
Ty Emberson |
| Cam Dineen |
Troy Stecher |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Stuart Skinner |
Calvin Pickard |
