Game 55 Preview: Montreal Canadiens @ Calgary Flames

The Montreal Canadiens (13-34-7, 33 pts) will do battle with Tyler Toffoli and the red-hot Calgary Flames  (32-14-6, 55 pts) and attempt to get back in the win column on Thursday night (9:00 PM ET, RDS, TSN2, SNW).

This game becomes especially important as it’s the first encounter between the Canadiens and Toffoli since the veteran winger was traded to Calgary on Feb 14. It’ll be an emotional game for Toffoli and many Canadiens players, as Toffoli was a well-regarded leadership figure in the room and a great influence on youngsters Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki.

Andrew Hammons is expected to get the start for the Canadiens, after coming into the last game in relief of Samuel Montembeault. So far this season, the Hamburglar has gone 2-0-0 and put up a  1.72GAA and a .939 save percentage.

Jacob Markstrom is expected to get the start for the Flames. He’s is 25-11-5 this season with a 2.10 GAA and a .927 save percentage.

Montreal Canadiens Notes

Cole Caufield has continued to roll offensively for the Canadiens, posting 11 points in his last 9 games.

Josh Anderson has been a scoring machine lately, potting 6 goals in his last 5 games.

Calgary Flames Notes

Tyler Toffoli has been a great addition to the Flames, posting 7 points in his last 7 games since the trade.

Elias Lindholm is one of the league’s hottest goal scorers, potting 10 goals in his last 12 games.

Montreal Canadiens Lines:

Forwards

Cole Caufield-Nick Suzuki-Josh Anderson

Mike Hoffman – Laurent Dauphin – Brendan Gallagher

Rem Pitlick – Jake Evans- Artturi Lehkonen

Joel Armia – Ryan Poehling – Micheal Pezzetta

Defence:

Alexander Romanov – Ben Chiarot

Brett Kulak-Jeff Petry

Corey Schueneman-Chris Wideman

Goalies:

Andrew Hammond

Sam Montembeault

Calgary Flames Lines:

Forwards

Johnny Gaudreau- Elias Lindholm-Matthew Tkachuk

Andrew Mangiapane-Mikael Backlund-Blake Coleman

Milan Lucic-Sean Monahan-Tyler Toffoli

Trevor Lewis-Brad Richardson-Brett Ritchie

Defence

Noah Hanifin-Rasmus Andersson

Oliver Kylington-Chris Tanev

Nikita Zadorov-Erik Gudbranson

Goalies

Jacob Markstrom

Daniel Vladar