Game 3: Montreal Canadiens vs. Ottawa Senators
Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In Canada: CITY-TV, Sportsnet East (English), TVA Sports (French)
Streaming: ESPN+, Sportsnet+
The Bell Centre crowd was treated to perhaps the greatest performance Samuel Montembeault has ever had on Wednesday night versus the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the home fans will be hoping for similar from their starting goaltender. Hopefully he will be less busy than he was in the season-opener when he faced 48 shots.
Montreal’s defence also had trouble containing the Boston Bruins the next night, and the defensive play has been the greatest concern so far. Martin St-Louis said he was happy with the team’s five-on-five play in the pre-season, but now that the game results have points attached, the situation hasn’t looked comfortable at all.
There’s not going to be a reprieve in tonight’s contest either. The Ottawa Senators may not have the skill of the Maple Leafs or Bruins, but they do work hard each and every game they play and can still rack up shots on an opponent not on top of its game. Ottawa has scored at least five goals seven times in the past nine meetings between the teams dating back to the 2021-22 season. It’s a matchup that the Canadiens clearly haven’t fared well in during their rebuild phase.
The x-factor this year is Lane Hutson, who has been the best player for Montreal through two games and has begun to attract the attention of the opponent, which is learning he’s the catalyst for much of the offence. Physical play has been a hallmark of this current Sens team, and you know that the Canadiens’ #48 is going to be a player they seek out this evening.
Oliver Kapanen gets a second consecutive start and will make his home debut, while Emil Heineman joins him on Christian Dvorak’s line. Josh Anderson, riding some strong defensive performances so far, has moved up to a more familiar place next to Jake Evans and Brendan Gallagher, and we’ll see if that trio can be the difference on offence.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| #13 Cole Caufield | #14 Nick Suzuki | #20 Juraj Slafkovský |
| #35 Alex Newhook | #77 Kirby Dach | #40 Joel Armia |
| #11 Brendan Gallagher | #71 Jake Evans | #17 Josh Anderson |
| #51 Emil Heineman | #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 | #52 Justin Barron |
| Starter | Backup |
|---|---|
| #35 Samuel Montembeault | #30 Cayden Primeau |
Scratched: Alex Barré-Boulet, Michael Pezzetta
Injured: Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Patrik Laine, Jayden Struble
Ottawa Senators projected lineup
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| Brady Tkachuk | Tim Stützle | Claude Giroux |
| Noah Gregor | Josh Norris | Drake Batherson |
| David Perron | Shane Pinto | Michael Amadio |
| Nick Cousins | Ridly Greig | Zack MacEwen |
| Left Defence | Right Defence |
|---|---|
| Jake Sanderson | Artem Zub |
| Thomas Chabot | Nck Jensen |
| Tyler Kleven | Travis Hamonic |
| Starter | Backup |
|---|---|
| Linus Ullmark | Anton Forsberg |
