Game 12: Montreal Canadiens @ Pittsburgh Penguins
Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In Canada: CityTV (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the Penguins region: Sportsnet Pittsburgh
Streaming: ESPN+, Sportsnet+
Martin St-Louis may have been unhappy enough to put his team through a bag skate at the end of Friday’s practice, but he’s taken a more measured approach to altering his lineup following a 6-3 loss to the Washington Capitals on Thursday. He’s simply opted for a new permutation on the second line by moving Kirby Dach back to centre (the position the team will need him to play if they plan to right this season), and sitting Justin Barron in favour of Arber Xhekaj.
It’s not a formidable team that the Canadiens face tonight, but it is one that has enough offensive talent to score goals, and they netted six of them the first time these teams met. It’s a good test for the defence once again while still allowing Montreal to generate plenty of offence.
The coach will probably be an angry man if the Penguins are left to freely roam through the slot in front of Samuel Montembeault. He can only hope the threat of having his players gasping for breath in another hard skate will be enough to inspire a better effort.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #13 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#51 Emil Heineman |
| #35 Alex Newhook |
#77 Kirby Dach |
#20 Juraj Slafkovský |
| #17 Josh Anderson |
#71 Jake Evans |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
| #40 Joel Armia |
#28 Christian Dvorak |
#91 Oliver Kapanen |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #8 Mike Matheson |
#21 Kaiden Guhle |
| #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
Pittsburgh Penguins projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Evgeni Malkin |
Sidney Crosby |
Rickard Rakell |
| Drew O’Connor |
Lars Eller |
Valtteri Puustinen |
| Michael Bunting |
Cody Glass |
Noel Acciari |
| Kevin Hayes |
Blake Lizotte |
Jesse Puljujarvi |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Matt Grzelcyk |
Kris Letang |
| Marcus Pettersson |
Erik Karlsson |
| Ryan Graves |
Jack St. Ivany |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Alex Nedeljkovic |
Joel Blomqvist |
