Game 47: Montreal Canadiens vs. Ottawa Senators
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Senators region: TSN5 (English), RDS (French)
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
The Canadiens not only get Arber Xhekaj back in the lineup for tonight’s game, but Tanner Pearson as well, who will be playing his first game since December 8. It remains to be seen how the team will operate with only three centres after sending Mitchell Stephens to the AHL earlier today, likely a rotation of wingers with Nick Suzuki, Sean Monahan and Jake Evans. Interestingly, the forward who leads the team in faceoff winning percentage isn’t one of those three players, but Jesse Ylönen at 71.4%, going five for seven on the season.
Montreal needs a better plan versus an Ottawa team that scored at will last Thursday, generating a lot of offence from defensive-zone turnovers and odd-man rushes. If they can do that against a club that always puts in a good effort, they will have a chance to generate offence of their own versus what is much weaker play at Ottawa’s own end of the ice.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #22 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#20 Juraj Slafkovský |
| #89 Joshua Roy |
#91 Sean Monahan |
#40 Joel Armia |
| #70 Tanner Pearson |
#71 Jake Evans |
#17 Josh Anderson |
| #55 Michael Pezzetta |
#49 Rafaël Harvey-Pinard |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #8 Mike Matheson |
#58 David Savard |
| #72 Arber Xhekaj |
#21 Kaiden Guhle |
| #47 Jayden Struble |
#26 Johnny Kovacevic |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #34 Jake Allen |
#30 Cayden Primeau |
Injured: Kirby Dach, Christian Dvorak, Alex Newhook, Chris Wideman
Scratched: Jordan Harris, Samuel Montembeault, Jesse Ylönen
Ottawa Senators projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Brady Tkachuk |
Josh Norris |
Claude Giroux |
| Ridly Greig |
Tim Stützle |
Drake Batherson |
| Mathieu Joseph |
Shane Pinto |
Vladimir Tarasenko |
| Parker Kelly |
Rourke Chartier |
Zack MacEwen |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Jake Sanderson |
Artem Zub |
| Thomas Chabot |
Jakob Chychrun |
| Erik Brannstrom |
Jacob Bernard-Docker |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Joonas Korpisalo |
Mads Søgaard |
