Game 59: Montreal Canadiens vs. San Jose Sharks
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Sharks region: NBC Sports California
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
Thanks to a great effort on Tuesday versus a good Carolina Hurricanes team, albeit one in a bit of a funk, the Canadiens remain unbeaten since the 4 Nations faceoff. Now they have a chance to win a third game in a row for the fourth time this year. That had been a rarity for the Canadiens in this rebuild phase, but a more common occurrence in 2024-25, which is a sign that things are beginning to come around for the franchise.
San Jose had two such runs earlier in the season before the roster, especially the goaltending position, was dismantled to aid in the team’s draft lottery hopes. Even after trading away their starting goaltender and one of their best players in Mikael Granlund, they’ve been quite competitive in the month of February, and far from the pushovers they were for the previous couple of months.
While they have improved, they shouldn’t pose too great a challenge to the Canadiens if they can play the same four-line game that has marked their play this week. They’ve looked more like the team that seemed destined for a playoff position in January, and are aiming to finish the regular season strong.
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 |
#62 Owen Beck |
#35 Alex Newhook |
#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
San Jose Sharks projected lineup
Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
William Eklund |
Macklin Celebrini |
Tyler Toffoli |
Fabian Zetterlund |
Alex Wennberg |
Will Smith |
Collin Graf |
Nico Sturm |
Luke Kunin |
Klim Kostin |
Ty Dellandrea |
Barclay Goodrow |
Left Defence |
Right Defence |
Jake Walman |
Henry Thrun |
Mario Ferraro |
Timothy Liljegren |
Marc-Edouard Vlasic |
Shakir Mukhamadullin |
Starter |
Backup |
Alexandar Georgiev |
Vitek Vanecek |