Game 32: 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 X, Bally Sports Wisconsin X
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN
New Minnesota Wild head coach John Hynes has elected not to start Marc-Andre Fleury, preferring to save his future Hall-of-Famer for Saturday’s rematch with the Boston Bruins. While that does mean the Canadiens have to face a goaltender posting a better save percentage of late, a game against Fleury has been all but a guaranteed loss for the Habs for the last several years. Perhaps they can have better luck against a different netminder, one with an 0-2-1 record versus Montreal.
The visiting team may not have to call upon luck to run its record to 2-0 on this road trip. The club is playing quite well lately, at least for large portions of the game. They do have some issues playing with leads, but the fact that they’re getting to a point where they’re outscoring opponents to have an advantage on the scoreboard is an encouraging sign.
Despite the consecutive wins, Martin St-Louis has taken this opportunity to slot Emil Heineman into the lineup for his first NHL game. The big winner has a big shot, and will feature on power plays should Montreal get those opportunities.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #22 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#20 Juraj Slafkovský |
| #91 Sean Monahan |
#71 Jake Evans |
#17 Josh Anderson |
| #40 Joel Armia |
#28 Christian Dvorak |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
| #51 Emil Heineman |
#13 Mitchell Stephens |
#56 Jesse Ylönen |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #8 Mike Matheson |
#58 David Savard |
| #21 Kaiden Guhle |
#52 Justin Barron |
| #47 Jayden Struble |
#26 Johnny Kovacevic |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #35 Samuel Montembeault |
#34 Jake Allen |
Injured: Kirby Dach, Jordan Harris, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Alex Newhook, Tanner Pearson, Chris Wideman
Scratched: Gustav Lindström, Michael Pezzetta, Cayden Primeau
Minnesota Wild projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Kirill Kaprizov |
Joel Eriksson Ek |
Matt Boldy |
| Marcus Foligno |
Marco Rossi |
Jacob Lucchini |
| Marcus Johansson |
Frederick Gaudreau |
Pat Maroon |
| Brandon Duhaime |
Connor Dewar |
Vinni Lettieri |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Jacob Middleton |
Brock Faber |
| Alex Goligoski |
Zach Bogosian |
| Jon Merrill |
Dakota Mermis |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Filip Gustavsson |
Marc-Andre Fleury |
