Game 56: Montreal Canadiens @ Minnesota Wild
Start time: 7:30 PM EST / 4:30 PM PST
In the Canadiens regions: RDS (French)
In the Wild region: FanDuel Sportsnet North/Wisconsin
Streaming: Prime Monday Night Hockey
It’s a very different team the Montreal Canadiens will face tonight in St. Paul, Minnesota, not just because almost all of the Wild’s players are now healthy after a handful were kept home for the first game in Montreal, but because they’ve come out of the doldrums they were in with half a season played and no real pressure from below in the standings to force them to maintain their play. As the final third approached, they kicked themselves back into gear, scoring 14 goals over the course of a three-game winning streak.
It’s exactly the same number Montreal has produced on its own streak. Nine players have goals during this hot run, and eight have at least three points. The offence has been coming from throughout the lineup, and the defencemen have been getting more involved in the action.
Jakub Dobeš’s performance in net is probably playing a part in the blue line’s confidence to join in on the attack, and Martin St-Louis will stick with the hot hand tonight. It’s going to be tough for the Canadiens to keep this streak going given the Wild’s current level, but that has been true for each of the last three games Montreal has played, and Dobeš only seems to get better each night. It should be an entertaining back-and-forth battle between two teams that feature a lot of offensive firepower but also netminders who can cool off even the best scorers.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #13 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#77 Kirby Dach |
| #20 Juraj Slafkovský |
#91 Oliver Kapanen |
#93 Ivan Demidov |
| #90 Joe Veleno |
#71 Jake Evans |
#76 Zachary Bolduc |
| #17 Josh Anderson |
#24 Phillip Danault |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #8 Mike Matheson |
#21 Kaiden Guhle |
| #48 Lane Hutson |
#53 Noah Dobson |
| #72 Arber Xhekaj |
#45 Alexandre Carrier |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #75 Jakub Dobeš |
#35 Samuel Montembeault |
Scratched: Sammy Blais, Jayden Struble
Injured: Patrik Laine, Alex Newhook, Alexandre Texier
Minnesota Wild projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Kirill Kaprizov |
Ryan Hartman |
Mats Zuccarello |
| Marcus Johansson |
Joel Eriksson Ek |
Matt Boldy |
| Vinnie Hinostroza |
Danila Yurov |
Vladimir Tarasenko |
| Marcus Foligno |
Nico Sturm |
Yakov Trenin |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Quinn Hughes |
Brock Faber |
| Jacob Middleton |
Jared Spurgeon |
| Daemon Hunt |
Zach Bogosian |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Filip Gustavsson |
Jesper Wallstedt |
