Game 17: Montreal Canadiens @ Minnesota Wild
Start time: **8:00 PM EST / 5:00 PM PST**
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Wild region: Bally Sports North (BSN), Bally Sports Wisconsin (BSWI)
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
Though they did allow five goals on Monday afternoon to the Buffalo Sabres, the Canadiens looked quite good in all facets outside of goaltending. The top three forwards had exceptional games to outscore the issues in the crease. We’ve come to expect that from Cole Caufield so far this season as he sits tied for the league lead in goals, but Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovský took big strides forward with their play.
They will need their stars and many others to play that well tonight to beat the Minnesota Wild. The Winnipeg Jets are stealing the headlines in the Central Division, but Minnesota still has the third-best record in the NHL at 10-2-3, and one of the best scorers in Kirill Kaprizov. The Russian winger is averaging almost two points per game so far, so the Canadiens will likely need to outscore their own season average to keep up.
Martin St-Louis has left his lineup intact after finally coming up with a combination that earned a win. The overall play has been gradually improving, so the coach hopes there can be another incremental step versus one of the top clubs in the NHL.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
#20 Juraj Slafkovský |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#77 Kirby Dach |
#35 Alex Newhook |
#71 Jake Evans |
#13 Cole Caufield |
#17 Josh Anderson |
#28 Christian Dvorak |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
#51 Emil Heineman |
#82 Lucas Condotta |
#40 Joel Armia |
Left Defence |
Right Defence |
#21 Kaiden Guhle |
#8 Mike Matheson |
#48 Lane Hutson |
#58 David Savard |
#72 Arber Xhekaj |
#47 Jayden Struble |
Starter |
Backup |
#35 Samuel Montembeault |
#30 Cayden Primeau |
Scratched: Justin Barron, Michael Pezzetta
Injured: Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Patrik Laine
Minnesota Wild projected lineup
Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
Kirill Kaprizov |
Marco Rossi |
Mats Zuccarello |
Marcus Johansson |
Joel Eriksson Ek |
Matt Boldy |
Marcus Foligno |
Frederick Gaudreau |
Ryan Hartman |
Jakub Lauko |
Marat Khusnutdinov |
Yakov Trenin |
Left Defence |
Right Defence |
Jacob Middleton |
Brock Faber |
Jon Merrill |
Jared Spurgeon |
Declan Chisholm |
Zach Bogosian |
Starter |
Backup |
Filip Gustavsson |
Marc-Andre Fleury |