Game 32: Montreal Canadiens @ Detroit Red Wings
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Red Wings region: FanDuel Sports Network Detroit
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
The biggest news since the Canadiens last played on Tuesday has been the acquisition of Alexandre Carrier, and the defenceman will make his debut with his childhood team tonight in Detroit. He will be tasked right away with trying to contain Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat, and Lucas Raymond, by far the most dangerous offensive players the Red Wings will dress.
Samuel Montembeault gets the start in the first game of a home-and-home set, and you have to wonder if that means Martin St-Louis is planning to use his number-one goalie in both games of the back-to-back should tonight’s workload allow for such a decision. That’s not an ideal situation to put your netminder in, especially with a third game in four days coming up on Monday, but with Cayden Primeau ranking last in the league in save percentage, even a fatigued Montembeault may be the best bet to get two points tomorrow night.
First, the Canadiens will focus on winning tonight’s game after just climbing up from last place in the Eastern Conference earlier in the week. All four games with the Red Wings went to overtime a season ago as the teams played each other close. That could be the case once again for clubs that find themselves near each other in the standings approaching the Christmas break.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #13 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#20 Juraj Slafkovský |
| #92 Patrik Laine |
#77 Kirby Dach |
#35 Alex Newhook |
| #17 Josh Anderson |
#28 Christian Dvorak |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
| #51 Emil Heineman |
#71 Jake Evans |
#40 Joel Armia |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #48 Lane Hutson |
#8 Mike Matheson |
| #21 Kaiden Guhle |
#45 Alexandre Carrier |
| #72 Arber Xhekaj |
#58 David Savard |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #35 Samuel Montembeault |
#30 Cayden Primeau |
Scratched: Michael Pezzetta, Jayden Struble
Detroit Red Wings projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Vladimir Tarasenko |
Dylan Larkin |
Lucas Raymond |
| Alex DeBrincat |
Andrew Copp |
Patrick Kane |
| Michael Rasmussen |
J.T. Compher |
Tyler Motte |
| Joe Veleno |
Marco Kasper |
Christian Fischer |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Ben Chiarot |
Moritz Seider |
| Justin Holl |
Jeff Petry |
| Albert Johansson |
Erik Gustafsson |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Cam Talbot |
Alex Lyon |
