Montreal Canadiens @ Pittsburgh Penguins
How to watch
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In Canada: CBC, Sportsnet East (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the Penguins region: ATTSN Pittsburgh
Streaming: ESPN+, NHL Live, RDS Direct, TSN Direct
An injury to Chris Wideman has forced Dominique Ducharme back to a normal 12-forward, six-defenceman rotation for tonight’s game in Pittsburgh. In will come Michael Pezzetta to play his fourth-line role once more, getting his first game action since Montreal’s previous game versus the Penguins.
It also means Ducharme has no choice but to use Mattias Norlinder on a regular pair (even if he does try to play other units for the vast majority of the game) and leaves him limited options for the power play which might allow Norlinder to get some offensive minutes. The Canadiens only had one power play in the teams’ first match, and the Penguins are the second-least penalized team in the NHL, so there may not be much opportunity for that to happen.
In goal, Jake Allen was saved for this game rather than the divisional matchup on Friday, perhaps with the idea of preventing another game of six goals against that Cayden Primeau and Samuel Montembeault combined for on November 18. The Penguins opted for a different approach, sending out Tristan Jarry against a fellow Metro team, and got rewarded with a shutout win over the New York Islanders. Tonight, facing one of the bottom teams in the league, the crease has been handed to Casey DeSmith on the second half of a back-to-back.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
Forwards
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Artturi Lehkonen |
Nick Suzuki |
Cole Caufield |
| Jonathan Drouin |
Jake Evans |
Brendan Gallagher |
| Tyler Toffoli |
Christian Dvorak |
Josh Anderson |
| Michael Pezzetta |
Ryan Poehling |
Joel Armia |
Defencemen
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Ben Chiarot |
Jeff Petry |
| Alexander Romanov |
David Savard |
| Mattias Norlinder |
Sami Niku |
Goaltenders
| Starter |
Backup |
| Jake Allen |
Samuel Montembeault |
Pittsburgh Penguins projected lineup
Forwards
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Jake Guentzel |
Sidney Crosby |
Evan Rodrigues |
| Jason Zucher |
Jeff Carter |
Kasperi Kapanen |
| Zach Aston-Reese |
Teddy Blueger |
Brock McGinn |
| Danton Heinen |
Brian Boyle |
Dominik Simon |
Defencemen
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Brian Dumoulin |
Kris Letang |
| Marcus Pettersson |
John Marino |
| Michael Matheson |
Chad Ruhwedel |
Goaltenders
| Starter |
Backup |
| Casey DeSmith |
Tristan Jarry |
