Game 39: Montreal Canadiens @ Florida Panthers
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Panthers region: SCRIPPS
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
Samuel Montreal rejoined the Montreal Canadiens after Christmas, and tonight will make his return to NHL action to take on his former team, the Florida Panthers. He bested the eventual Stanley Cup-winners three times last season in a two-week span near the end of the campaign to help the Habs sweep the season series, and the hope is that the memories of those performances can inspire him to regain that level.
On paper, it’s a much weaker team than the one the Panthers had last season, with several key injuries, but that hasn’t stopped Florida from mounting a charge in recent weeks. With the midpoint of the season hitting soon after the new year, the Canadiens and Panthers are separated by two points in the standings, surviving the adversity of missing top players to hold playoff positions.
The Canadiens do have the rest advantage over a Florida team that played last night and needed to use up a lot of energy for a late-game comeback versus the Washington Capitals. We saw what the Habs were able to do in the third period versus a fatigued Tampa Bay Lightning squad two nights ago, and the same opportunity will be available this evening if the Habs can keep the game close through 40 minutes.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #20 Juraj Slafkovský |
#91 Oliver Kapanen |
#93 Ivan Demidov |
| #13 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#85 Alexandre Texier |
| #76 Zachary Bolduc |
#24 Phillip Danault |
#17 Josh Anderson |
| #27 Sammy Blais |
#90 Joe Veleno |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #8 Mike Matheson |
#53 Noah Dobson |
| #48 Lane Hutson |
#45 Alexandre Carrier |
| #72 Arber Xhekaj |
#47 Jayden Struble |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #35 Samuel Montembeault |
#75 Jakub Dobeš |
Scratched: Owen Beck, Jacob Fowler, Jayden Struble
Injured: Kirby Dach, Jake Evans, Kaiden Guhle, Patrik Laine, Alex Newhook
Florida Panthers projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Carter Verhaeghe |
Sam Bennett |
Brad Marchand |
| Eetu Luostarinen |
Anton Lundell |
Sam Reinhart |
| Mackie Samoskevich |
Evan Rodrigues |
A.J. Greer |
| Jesper Boqvist |
Luke Kunin |
Jack Studnicka |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Gustav Forsling |
Aaron Ekblad |
| Niko Mikkola |
Seth Jones |
| Uvis Balinskis |
Jeff Petry |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Daniil Tarasov |
Sergei Bobrovsky |
