The Montreal Canadiens welcome the Detroit Red Wings to Montreal tonight, and there will be an interesting matchup in goal.
Jimmy Howard has gained the confidence of head coach Jeff Blashill, and has proved his worth over young Petr Mrazek thus far. He currently leads all goaltenders with a .961 save percentage and 1.22 goals-against average.
The Wings visit having won their last two games, and sit fourth in the Atlantic Division. Quebec native Anthony Mantha was recalled from AHL affiliate Grand Rapids Griffins, and will draw into the lineup for the Wings. Detroit’s prized prospect is having an excellent AHL campaign so far, leading the Griffins with 10 points. In two career games against the Canadiens, he has two goals, so he’ll be interesting to watch tonight.
On the other side of the ice, Carey Price has been nothing short of perfect this season, as he sports a impressive 9-0-0 record, sits third in the NHL with a 1.56 goals-against average, and second with a .953 save percentage. This will be first of back-to-back games for the Canadiens, so expect to see Al Montoya in the crease tomorrow vs. the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Habs are also coming off perhaps their most impressive win of the season versus the L.A. Kings, where they finally managed to stop bleeding shots against, limiting the Kings to only 24 pucks on net.
Alex Galchenyuk is currently riding a three-game goal streak, and has looked excellent alongside Alexander Radulov, who has four points in the last three games, as well. Paul Byron has looked very good alongside these two, and has been a great surprise thus far.
Puck Drop is 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PDT
How to watch
Canada (English): Sportsnet
Canada (French): TVA Sports
Red Wings Region: FS-D
Elsewhere: NHL.tv/NHL Gamecentre Live, NHL Centre Ice
Update: David Desharnais will play tonight, as Brian Flynn will be kept out of the lineup with an upper-body injury.
Montreal Canadiens Projected Lineup
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| Paul Byron | Alex Galchenyuk | Alexander Radulov |
| Sven Andrighetto | Tomas Plekanec | Brendan Gallagher |
| Max Pacioretty | Philip Danault | Andrew Shaw |
| Daniel Carr | Torrey Mitchell | David Desharnais |
| Left Defence | Right Defence |
|---|---|
| Alexei Emelin | Shea Weber |
| Andrei Markov | Jeff Petry |
| Nathan Beaulieu | Joel Hanley |
| Goaltenders |
|---|
| Carey Price |
| Al Montoya |
Scratched: David Desharnais, Greg Pateryn
Injured: Artturi Lehkonen (upper-body injury), Zach Redmond (foot)
Detroit Red Wings Projected Lineup
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| Dylan Larkin | Henrik Zetterberg | Gustav Nyquist |
| Tomas Tatar | Frans Nielsen | Anthony Mantha |
| Riley Sheahan | Darren Helm | Justin Abdelkader |
| Tyler Bertuzzi | Luke Glendening | Steve Ott |
| Left Defence | Right Defence |
|---|---|
| Danny DeKeyser | Mike Green |
| Niklas Kronwall | Brendan Smith |
| Jonathan Ericsson | Alexey Marchenko |
| Goaltenders |
|---|
| Jimmy Howard |
| Petr Mrazek |
Scratches: Drew Miller, Ryan Sproul, Xavier Ouellet
Injuries: Andreas Athansiou (sprained knee), Thomas Vanek (mid-body injury), Tomas Jurco (back), Johan Franzen (concussion), Joe Vitale (concussion)
