Canadiens vs. Lightning: Game thread, rosters, lines, and how to watch
The 13th game of the season offers up a key conference battle.
Montreal Canadiens vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
How to watch
Puck drop: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In Canada: CITY-TV, Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet Now (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the Lightning region: FOX Sports-Sun
Elsewhere: NHL.tv/Rogers NHL Live
Tampa Bay is often credited as being one of the most complete teams in the NHL, with strong goaltending, an elite defenceman heading a good blue-line corps, and four lines of forwards capable of contributing each night.
The offence hasn’t been quite as prolific as we’ve seen in previous years. Yet with an opening month of the season filled with point-per-game performances (78 players hold that mark at the moment), the Lightning have three players qualifying for that distinction, being led both in points (14) and goals (7) by Brayden Point.
Montreal counters with a point-per-game forward of their own in Max Domi, with fellow off-season addition Tomas Tatar close on his heels. The Canadiens are closely matching the offensive output their division rival is producing, and giving up the same number of goals to boot.
The teams are very closely matched in many aspects of their game. The biggest difference is on special teams, with Montreal in the bottom half of both categories, and the Lightning in the top 10 of each, including having the NHL’s best penalty kill.
You can expect the power play to be a non-factor for Montreal tonight, so if they are to leapfrog the Lightning in the standings, disciplined play at five-on-five will have to be the focus.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
Forwards
Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
---|---|---|
Tomas Tatar | Phillip Danault | Brendan Gallagher |
Jonathan Drouin | Max Domi | Charles Hudon |
Artturi Lehkonen | Jesperi Kotkaniemi | Joel Armia |
Nicolas Deslauriers | Matthew Peca | Andrew Shaw |
Defencemen
Left Defence | Right Defence |
---|---|
Jordie Benn | Jeff Petry |
Mikey Reilly | Noah Juulsen |
Xavier Ouellet | Victor Mete |
Goaltenders
Goaltenders |
---|
Carey Price |
Antti Niemi |
Tampa Bay Lightning projected lineup
Forwards
Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
---|---|---|
J.T. Miller | Steven Stamkos | Nikita Kucherov |
Yanni Gourde | Brayden Point | Tyler Johnson |
Alex Killorn | Anthony Cirelli | Mathieu Joseph |
Adam Erne | Cedric Paquette | Ryan Callahan |
Defencemen
Left Defence | Right Defence |
---|---|
Ryan McDonagh | Anton Stralman |
Slater Koekkoek | Dan Girardi |
Braydon Coburn | Mikhail Sergachev |
Goaltenders
Goaltenders |
---|
Andrei Vasilevskiy |
Louis Domingue |