Game 65: Montreal Canadiens vs. San Jose Sharks
Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In Canada: CityTV, Sportsnet East (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the Sharks region: NBC Sports California
Streaming: ESPN+, Sportsnet+
There were public reports leading up to this weekend’s back-to-back that Brendan Gallagher would probably sit out for one of the games. Yesterday it seemed like that would wait until Sunday’s match versus the Anaheim Ducks, but the decision was made to scratch him tonight. San Jose is the weaker of the two opponents the Habs will play this weekend, so maybe the feeling is that the extra energy from a third day off will be a benefit versus the Ducks tomorrow.
The reason for the scratch is good news at least, done to allow Cole Caufield back into the lineup. His absence with an illness cost him just one full game and his five-on-five minutes late in Tuesday’s game in Toronto, and now he’s back to continue his quest toward 40 goals, a mark he sits three away from with 18 games to play.
Montreal allowed seven goals the last time the teams met and can’t afford to do that again. They’ve looked better this week, but so have the Sharks after surrendering five goals to the Habs, allowing three or fewer in each game since, save a rough night in Buffalo to begin this current road trip. There could be significantly fewer than 12 goals scored in this game, which is probably a good situation for Montreal to get used to with the post-season right around the corner.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #13 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#20 Juraj Slafkovský |
| #15 Alex Newhook |
#91 Oliver Kapanen |
#93 Ivan Demidov |
| #76 Zachary Bolduc |
#71 Jake Evans |
#77 Kirby Dach |
| #17 Josh Anderson |
#24 Phillip Danault |
#85 Alexandre Texier |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #8 Mike Matheson |
#53 Noah Dobson |
| #21 Kaiden Guhle |
#48 Lane Hutson |
| #47 Jayden Struble |
#45 Alexandre Carrier |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #75 Jakub Dobeš |
#35 Samuel Montembeault |
Scratched: Jacob Fowler, Brendan Gallagher, Patrik Laine, Joe Veleno, Arber Xhekaj
San Jose Sharks projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Igor Chernyshov |
Macklin Celebrini |
Will Smith |
| William Eklund |
Michael Misa |
Tyler Toffoli |
| Collin Graf |
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 |
| Alex Nedeljkovic |
Yaroslav Askarov |
