Game 73: Montreal Canadiens @ Florida Panthers
Start time: **1:00 PM EDT / 10:00 AM PDT**
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Panthers region: Scripps
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
The aim of this road trip for the Montreal Canadiens was to still be in a playoff spot when it concluded, making the final couple of weeks of the schedule a bit easier on everyone. Despite not claiming a single point through three games so far, they are two points away from being able to accomplish that goal.
Needing a victory in Florida has rarely been a comfortable situation for the Canadiens in recent history, and while none of the players expect an easy game this afternoon they are a bit confident in a positive outcome after already beating the Panthers twice this season. An injury to Dmitry Kulikov on defence and a suspension for Aaron Ekblad mean the team isn’t at its usual elite defensive standard, and Matthew Tkachuk remains out as well to hinder them on the offensive side.
The Panthers do have Brad Marchand in the lineup now, which offers them a boost over what they were able to counter Montreal with the last time they met on March 15. The soon-to-be 37-year-old may not be the star player he once was, but he still managed 21 goals this season on a poor Boston Bruins team, and had a hand in Florida’s overtime winner in his debut on Friday. His game versus Montreal on December 1 snapped a six-game point streak versus the Habs, and they’ll have to expect he’s going to begin a new one today.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #13 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#20 Juraj Slafkovský |
| #17 Josh Anderson |
#28 Christian Dvorak |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
| #51 Emil Heineman |
#15 Alex Newhook |
#92 Patrik Laine |
| #55 Michael Pezzetta |
#71 Jake Evans |
#40 Joel Armia |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #21 Kaiden Guhle |
#48 Lane Hutson |
| #8 Mike Matheson |
#45 Alexandre Carrier |
| #47 Jayden Struble |
#58 David Savard |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #35 Samuel Montembeault |
#75 Jakub Dobeṧ |
Scratched: Joshua Roy, Arber Xhekaj
Injured: Kirby Dach
Florida Panthers projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Carter Verhaeghe |
Aleksander Barkov |
Sam Reinhart |
| Mackie Samoskevich |
Sam Bennett |
Brad Marchand |
| Eetu Luostarinen |
Anton Lundell |
Jesper Boqvist |
| A.J. Greer |
Nico Sturm |
Evan Rodrigues |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Gustav Forsling |
Seth Jones |
| Niko Mikkola |
Nate Schmidt |
| Tobias Bjornfot |
Uvis Balinskis |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
Vitek Vanecek |
