Game 50: Montreal Canadiens @ Washington Capitals
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Capitals region: Monumental Sports
Streaming: ESPN+, TSN+, RDS
Brandon Gignac makes his Canadiens debut this evening with his first NHL game is nearly five years. He’s earned the chance thanks to his play in the minors, and Martin St-Louis will hope the centre can carry that to the top league to at least keep his team competitive.
That’s a real question for the Canadiens as they begin the final 33 games of the season without Sean Monahan. Monahan was arguably the team’s best player since the Christmas break, and his loss will be felt throughout the lineup as he’s not around to absorb some difficult matchups.
Montreal returns to play with Cole Caufield riding a nine-game point streak, with 12 points in that time. The Capitals have been leaking goal against in recent games after riding strong goaltending in the first half of the season, so the Habs’ winger will have his opportunity to extend that streak to double digits.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #22 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#20 Juraj Slafkovský |
| #70 Tanner Pearson |
#71 Jake Evans |
#56 Jesse Ylönen |
| #40 Joel Armia |
#74 Brandon Gignac |
#17 Josh Anderson |
| #55 Michael Pezzetta |
#82 Lucas Condotta |
#49 Rafaël Harvey-Pinard |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #8 Mike Matheson |
#21 Kaiden Guhle |
| #47 Jayden Struble |
#58 David Savard |
| #72 Arber Xhekaj |
#26 Johnny Kovacevic |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #35 Samuel Montembeault |
#30 Cayden Primeau |
Injured: Kirby Dach, Christian Dvorak, Alex Newhook, Chris Wideman
Suspended: Brendan Gallagher
Scratched: Jake Allen, Jordan Harris
Washington Capitals projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Alexander Ovechkin |
Dylan Strome |
Tom Wilson |
| Max Pacioretty |
Connor McMichael |
T.J. Oshie |
| Anthony Mantha |
Michael Sgarbossa |
Aliaksei Protas |
| Beck Malenstyn |
Nic Dowd |
Nicolas Aube-Kubel |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Martin Fehervary |
John Carlson |
| Rasmus Sandin |
Trevor van Riemsdyk |
| Joel Edmundson |
Nick Jensen |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Charlie Lindgren |
Darcy Kuemper |
