Canadiens vs. Sabres: Game thread, rosters, lines, and how to watch

The Canadiens kick off their 2017-18 season on the road.

It starts with a visit to Buffalo, where former Hab Nathan Beaulieu will get a chance to make a mark against his former team. He might have trouble recognizing the Canadiens, as the team he departed from after last year’s disappointing playoff defeat to the Rangers has been shaken up substantially with six new players in tonight’s lineup that were not there when the Habs hung up the skates before the start of the summer.

Victor Mete will make his NHL regular season debut on the top defensive pairing alongside Shea Weber. Only two members of the Canadiens’ defense starting tonight was there at the beginning of last season, and with the veteran presence of Andrei Markov now in a different time-zone, it will be interesting to see how the Canadiens defense debuts tonight.

Jonathan Drouin will start at centre between Max Pacioretty and Brendan Gallagher. Drouin proved to be a reliable option to fill the top-line centre role during the preseason, and will get his first taste of holding that responsibility on his shoulders in a regular season game tonight.

Puck drop is at 7:00 PM EST / 10:00 PM PST

How to watch

In Canada: TSN2 (English/Habs region), RDS (French)
Elsewhere: NHL.tv/NHL Gamecentre Live, NHL Centre Ice

Montréal Canadiens projected lineup

Forwards

Defencemen

Goaltenders

Buffalo Sabres Projected Lineup

Forwards