Canadiens vs. Red Wings: Game thread, rosters, lineups, and how to watch

With the home schedule wrapped up and just a single game left in the regular-season, the Montreal Canadiens have taken the opportunity to rest their top players for an extra day before the playoffs begin.

Carey Price, Andrei Markov, Max Pacioretty, Alexander Radulov, and Tomas Plekanec will be watching tonight’s game as their team takes on the Detroit Red Wings. The Habs will also take advantage of the situation to hold Shea Weber and Jordie Benn out of the lineup, both of whom are nearly healed from their injuries, but could still benefit from the extended period of recuperation.

With all those players out, the lineup will look a lot different tonight. First of all, Mikhail Sergachev has joined the team from nearby Windsor to fill out the defence corps. He will dress for his fourth game in his NHL career tonight.

At forward, you should expect to see a lot of minutes from Alex Galchenyuk as Claude Julien gets one last game situation to get his young forward going before the games start to matter again next week. At the bottom of the lineup will be a gaggle of grinders making their last impressions for a start in Game One of the first round.

Charlie Lindgren will get his second start in three games for the team, and fans will hope it is just as successful as his victory over the Florida Panthers on Monday night.

How to watch

Puck drop: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In Canada: Sportsnet (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the Red Wings region: FS-D
Elsewhere: NHL.tv/NHL Gamecentre Live, NHL Center Ice

Montreal Canadiens projected lineup

Forwards

Defencemen

Goalies

Scratched: Carey Price, Andrei Markov, Max Pacioretty, Alexander Radulov, Tomas Plekanec
Injured: Shea Weber (upper body), Alexei Emelin (lower body), Jordie Benn (upper body)

Detroit Red Wings projected lineup

Forwards

Defencemen

Goalies

Scratched: Anthony Mantha, Andreas Athanasiou, Luke Glendening, Ryan Sproul
Injured: Jonathan Ericsson, Johan Franzen, Joe Vitale