Game 60: Montreal Canadiens @ San Jose Sharks
Start time: **10:00 PM EST / 7:00 PM PST**
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Sharks region: NBC Sports California
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
Martin St-Louis must have liked what he saw from his team on Saturday in a 6-2 win over the Washington Capitals because he has made no changes from that lineup. Zachary Bolduc remains of the third line, Jayden Struble is still on the third pairing, and Jakub Dobeš is back in the net in the easiest decision of the three. Not only did the goaltender play a big role of holding the Capitals to just two goals, but it has been almost three months since his last regulation loss, claiming at least a point for his team in each of his last 11 starts.
The Canadiens should be favoured to get the win with their superior lineup depth, having six players who have reached the 40-point milestone to San Jose’s two. Macklin Celebrini has hit that mark twice this season, however, and few teams in the league have been able to stop him.
Montreal generally does well versus teams that rely heavily on just a couple of players for offence, focusing their defensive strategy on those stars and getting the offence from other players. They have won five of the eight games played versus the Sharks the last four seasons, including both matchups last year with a rookie Celebrini on the other side. With how many goals the Canadiens are scoring, they don’t have to shut the young superstar down completely, but they probably do have to prevent him from having a 14th performance of at least three points this season.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #13 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#77 Kirby Dach |
| #20 Juraj Slafkovský |
#91 Oliver Kapanen |
#93 Ivan Demidov |
| #15 Alex Newhook |
#71 Jake Evans |
#76 Zachary Bolduc |
| #17 Josh Anderson |
#24 Phillip Danault |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #8 Mike Matheson |
#21 Kaiden Guhle |
| #48 Lane Hutson |
#53 Noah Dobson |
| #47 Jayden Struble |
#45 Alexandre Carrier |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #75 Jakub Dobeš |
#35 Samuel Montembeault |
Scratched: Alexandre Texier, Joe Veleno, Arber Xhekaj
Injured: Patrik Laine
San Jose Sharks projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Will Smith |
Macklin Celebrini |
Collin Graf |
| William Eklund |
Michael Misa |
Tyler Toffoli |
| Philipp Kurashev |
Alexander Wennberg |
Kiefer Sherwood |
| Barclay Goodrow |
Zack Ostapchuk |
Adam Gaudette |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Dmitry Orlov |
John Klingberg |
| Mario Ferraro |
Shakhir Mukhamadullin |
| Sam Dickinson |
Vincent Desharnais |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Yaroslav Askarov |
Alex Nedeljkovic |
