Canadiens Game 65: Important Match-Up For NHL Draft Lottery

The Montreal Canadiens (24-30-10) are set to host the Columbus Blue Jackets (22-32-10) at the Bell Center on Tuesday night. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 pm ET.

Montreal is coming off a hard-fought 4-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night, a game in which the youngest player in the lineup, Juraj Slafkovsky, produced a two-point effort.

Slafkovsky’s production has cooled lately, which isn’t overly surprising.

He’s a young player developing in the NHL, which is always a difficult proposal. On top of his age, he’s also currently dealing with a knock, which kept him out of practice on Monday morning. Simply put, he’s not at 100 percent.

Tuesday’s game will have significant lottery odds implications. The Blue Jackets are one of the few teams below the Habs in the standings. Like every other team Montreal is ‘chasing’, they have a much easier strength of schedule down the stretch.

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Tuesday’s game marks the first match-up in which the Canadiens will not have to decide between three different starters. Life without goaltender Jake Allen has begun.

Consequently, Cayden Primeau will be given the start against the Blue Jackets.

Johnathan Kovacevic will re-enter the lineup, while Jordan Harris watches the game from the press box as a healthy scratch.

Johnathan Kovacevic prendra la place de Jordan Harris dans la formation, mardi contre Columbus

Johnathan Kovacevic enters for Jordan Harris tonight against the Jackets#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/s4w9NqE0EO

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) March 12, 2024

As for the Blue Jackets, things have gone as poorly as you would have expected this season. They actually own a worse powerplay than the Canadiens, and they’ve allowed more goals per game than any other team in the NHL.

That being said, they’ve actually won five of their last 10 games, which means they’re peaking at the worst possible time. Alexandre Texier is the team’s hottest forward, as evidenced by his six points in the last 5 games. Both Alex Nylander and Zach Werenski have also produced relatively decently lately, with four points over that same stretch.

Johnny Gaudreau is still the team’s best forward, with 10 goals and 35 assists on the season, though you’d be hard-pressed to argue he’s had anything but another disappointing year in Columbus.

Montreal Canadiens Injuries

• Carey Price (IR)
• Chris Wideman (IR)
• Kirby Dach (out indefinitely, ACL/MCL)
• Colin White (out)
• Christian Dvorak (out)

Columbus Blue Jackets Injuries

• Kent Johnson (IR)
• Jordan Dumais (out)
• Adam Fantilli (out)
• Patrik Laine (IR)

Montreal Canadiens Projected Lineup

Columbus Blue Jackets Projected Lineup

Gaudreau – Jenner – Chinakhov

Wolansky – Voronkov – Marchenko

Texier – Sillinger – Nylander

Meyer – Kuraly – Olivier

Defence

Werenski – Boqvist

Provorov – Severson

Bean – Gudbranson

Goalie

Merzlikins

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