Game 60: Montreal Canadiens @ Florida Panthers
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Panthers region: Bally Sports Florida
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN
Samuel Montembeault was the story for the Canadiens on Tuesday night as he held the fort to allow the Habs to get a win despite being outplayed. The goaltender now receives a second consecutive start as the road trip begins. That was the only choice Martin St-Louis had for this game versus what is arguably the best team in the NHL. Montreal hasn’t been able to slow down the Panthers in recent meetings, and a blowout with Jake Allen in net would drop whatever trade value he has left to near zero, while Cayden Primeau’s confidence would be shattered with a poor night, and that’s running quite high now after his recent shutout. If Montreal is going to get shelled by the opponent, having it happen versus Montembeault is the least likely to have lasting effects on the goalie group.
He’s not going into Florida looking to lose versus his former organization, and neither will the Habs, who must know how poorly they played on Tuesday to force their goalie to face 38 shots. The players want to keep making progress this season, and there’s no better opponent than the Panthers to test themselves against.
Expect a bounce-back performance from Juraj Slafkovský in such a big game, and more good work from the duo of Alex Newhook and Joshua Roy. If they are going to enjoy multiple chances to show off their offensive skills, first the defence will need to contain a potent Panthers offence to get the puck moving away from their goaltender.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #22 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#20 Juraj Slafkovský |
| #89 Joshua Roy |
#35 Alex Newhook |
#40 Joel Armia |
| #11 Brendan Gallagher |
#71 Jake Evans |
#17 Josh Anderson |
| #70 Tanner Pearson |
#36 Colin White |
#56 Jesse Ylönen |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #8 Mike Matheson |
#21 Kaiden Guhle |
| #72 Arber Xhekaj |
#58 David Savard |
| $54 Jordan Harris |
#26 Johnny Kovacevic |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #35 Samuel Montembeault |
#34 Jake Allen |
Injured: Kirby Dach, Christian Dvorak, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Chris Wideman
Scratched: Michael Pezzetta, Cayden Primeau
Florida Panthers projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Carter Verhaeghe |
Aleksander Barkov |
Sam Reinhart |
| Nick Cousins |
Sam Bennett |
Matthew Tkachuk |
| Eetu Luostarinen |
Anton Lundell |
Evan Rodrigues |
| Will Lockwood |
Kevin Stenlund |
Ryan Lomberg |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Gustav Forsling |
Aaron Ekblad |
| Niko Mikkola |
Brandon Montour |
| Oliver Ekman-Larsson |
Dmitry Kulikov |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Anthony Stolarz |
Sergei Bobrovsky |
