Canadiens Game 7: Lines, Notes & What to Watch vs. Wild

The Montreal Canadiens (3-3-0) host the Minnesota Wild (1-3-1) Tuesday night at the Bell Centre. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 PM EST.

The Canadiens’ lineup will be similar to previous outings, with Juraj Slafkovsky missing a second consecutive game due to an upper-body injury.

Nick Suzuki will look to continue his impressive point-per-game pace, however, head coach Martin St-Louis will probably hope to see secondary and tertiary sources of offence emerge throughout the lineup, an area of weakness since the start of the season.

Rookie standout Arber Xhekaj is coming off a great performance for the Canadiens in their loss to the Dallas Stars, which included his first career NHL goal.

Xhekaj is among several rookies making a significant impact for the Canadiens, propelling them to a relatively surprising start to the 2022-23 season.

Rookies Jordan Harris and Jonathan Kovacevic have formed an impressive duo, leading all Canadiens pairings in several key statistical categories, including controlling 56 percent of the shots while they’re on the ice. Their play has gone a long way in mitigating the number of high-danger scoring chances faced by Canadiens goaltenders.

The Wild, on the other hand, have struggled to keep pucks out of their net, allowing 27 goals against in just five games, a league-worst 5.4 goals against per game. 12 of those goals have come from high-danger areas.

Their goaltenders have predictably struggled. Marc-Andre Fleury ranks last in the league in 5v5 save percentage (0.816%) among all goaltenders that have made more than one start.

Veteran winger Mats Zuccarello started his season on the right foot and currently leads the Wild in scoring with 4 goals and 6 assists in 5 games. All-Star Kirill Karpizov has also found his rhythm early, trailing Zuccarello with 4 goals and 4 assists.

Injuries

Canadiens

• Juraj Slafkovsky (upper-body injury, day-to-day)
• Joel Armia (upper-body injury, IR)
• Joel Edmundston (lower-body injury, IR)
• Mike Matheson (abdominal muscle strain, 6-8 weeks)

Wild

• Dakota Mermis (undisclosed, IR)

Montreal Canadiens Projected Lines

Minnesota Wild Lines, per Puckpedia.com:

Kaprizov – Gaudreau – Zuccarello

Boldy – Rossi – Foligno

Duhaime – Eriksson Ek -Hartman

Jost – Steel – Dewar

Defence:

Brodin – Addison

Middleton – Spurgeon

Merill – Dumba

Goalies:

Fleury

Gustavsson

Special Teams

Montreal Canadiens Game Notes:

How to Watch Or Listen