Game 61: Montreal Canadiens vs. Buffalo Sabres
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In Canada: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Sabres region: MSG Buffalo
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
The Canadiens had another good offensive game versus the Sabres on Saturday, even if one of their four goals was an empty-netter at the end of it. They keep getting production from throughout the lineup, and that’s a tough thing for the Sabres to match.
Normally the Bell Centre isn’t the best place for the Canadiens to fill the net — Montreal ranks ninth in the league on the road with 3.17 goals per game and 28th in their own building at 2.77 — but they’ve won the two games they’ve played there since the 4 Nations by a combined score of 8-3. They do tend to be a little fancier in front of their home crowd, but for now they’re finding ways to finish those plays off.
The Habs are aiming for a five-game winning streak, which is a rare thing for the franchise in recent history. Buffalo doesn’t have much left to fight for this season, but avoiding a sweep at the hands of a team threatening to leapfrog them in the Atlantic Division hierarchy is one reason for them to be motivated for a win.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #13 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#20 Juraj Slafkovský |
| #51 Emil Heineman |
#71 Jake Evans |
#40 Joel Armia |
| #15 Alex Newhook |
#62 Owen Beck |
#92 Patrik Laine |
| #17 Josh Anderson |
#28 Christian Dvorak |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #8 Mike Matheson |
#45 Alexandre Carrier |
| #47 Jayden Struble |
#48 Lane Hutson |
| #72 Arber Xhekaj |
#58 David Savard |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #35 Samuel Montembeault |
#75 Jakub Dobeṧ |
Injured: Kirby Dach, Kaiden Guhle, Michael Pezzetta
Buffalo Sabres projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| J.j. Peterka |
Jiri Kulich |
Tage Thompson |
| Jordan Greenway |
Dylan Cozens |
Alex Tuch |
| Zach Benson |
Ryan McLeod |
Jack Quinn |
| Beck Malenstyn |
Peyton Krebs |
|
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Bowen Byram |
Rasmus Dahlin |
| Owen Power |
Mattias Samuelsson |
| Jacob Bryson |
Connor Clifton |
|
Dennis Gilbert |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen |
James Reimer |
