Game 32: Montreal Canadiens vs. Edmonton Oilers
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Oilers region: Sportsnet West
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
It turns out the Montreal Canadiens can’t just abandon their defensive duties with Jacob Fowler in the net and let the rookie save them. They did well in Pittsburgh to limit the shots he faced to start his NHL career, but the New York Rangers were able to test him from close range on multiple occasions as familiar defensive issues cost the Habs a point last night.
That was against a team that rarely scores on home ice. The Edmonton Oilers team than the Habs have returned to the Bell Centre to face has no such issues, and the calm presence of Fowler won’t be in net to save the majority of the cases when the defence breaks. At some point the team will need to make the adjustments to prevent players from standing all alone at the top of the crease if it wants to be a playoff team again this season.
The task tonight is containing Connor McDavid. While they weren’t able to do that very well in the first meeting of the season in Edmonton, they have been able to lock him down at the Bell Centre in recent history as he has just one assist in his last four visits to Montreal. Expect a shutdown unit of Nick Suzuki and Mike Matheson to focus on #97 this evening as the Habs try to extend a point streak to three games.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #13 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#76 Zachary Bolduc |
| #20 Juraj Slafkovský |
#91 Oliver Kapanen |
#93 Ivan Demidov |
| #17 Josh Anderson |
#62 Owen Beck |
#85 Alexandre Texier |
| #90 Joe Veleno |
#71 Jake Evans |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #48 Lane Hutson |
#53 Noah Dobson |
| #8 Mike Matheson |
#45 Alexandre Carrier |
| #47 Jayden Struble |
#42 Adam Engström |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #75 Jakub Dobeš |
#32 Jacob Fowler |
Scratched: Jared Davidson, Jacob Fowler, Arber Xhekaj
Injured: Kirby Dach, Kaiden Guhle, Patrik Laine, Alex Newhook
Edmonton Oilers projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Ryan Nugent-Hopkins |
Connor McDavid |
Zach Hyman |
| Vasily Podkolzin |
Leon Draisaitl |
Matthew Savoie |
| Trent Frederic |
Adam Henrique |
Mattias Janmark |
| Andrew Mangiapane |
Curtis Lazar |
David Tomasek |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Mattias Ekholm |
Evan Bouchard |
| Darnell Nurse |
Alec Regula |
| Spencer Stastney |
Ty Emberson |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Calvin Pickard |
Tristan Jarry |
