Canadiens Preview And Lines: Matheson & Laine Not Playing

The Montreal Canadiens (7-11-3) are set to face the Columbus Blue Jackets (9-9-2) at the Nationwide Arena. The puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 pm ET.

The Habs are coming off a game in which they were fairly lucky to emerge with a point, a 3-2 loss to the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday night. Seeing as there’s travel included in this trip and the team played yesterday, it will be a difficult assignment for Martin St-Louis’ troops. To make matters more interesting, while the Habs are playing the second leg of back-to-back games, Columbus has been resting since Saturday.

Montreal was hoping either Mike Matheson or Patrik Laine would play during the trip, but that will have to wait, as neither player was cleared to play against the Blue Jackets.

Seeing as goaltender Samuel Montembeault faced Utah, backup Cayden Primeau will receive just his third start in the month of November. Primeau is sporting a dismal .842 save percentage this season, though it’s only fair to point out his usage has been spotty, at best. And that’s not just this season, Primeau’s entire career in the Canadiens organization has lacked any semblance of consistency. He has to play better, there’s no doubt on that subject, however, goaltenders need regular minutes to find their rhythm.

It remains to be seen if Juraj Slafkovsky and Kirby Dach will once again receive bottom-six minutes, but based on their play against Utah, there’s very little momentum to work with when it comes to the struggling forwards.

On Topic: Habs Highlights: Canadiens Drop First Ever Game Versus Utah

As for the Blue Jackets, they’ll be aiming to provide a much better performance than they did the last time these two teams met, as it ended in a one-sided 5-1 win for the Canadiens.

Dante Fabbro, a right-handed defenceman with solid underlying numbers and a reasonable contract, scored the lone goal for the Blue Jackets, a continuation of his strong play for the team that plucked him from the waiver wire. Fabbro has scored two goals and two assists since joining Columbus.

Former Hab Sean Monahan still leads the Blue Jackets in scoring, with 20 points. He shares that honour with linemate Kirill Marchenko and defenceman Zach Werenski. Much like the Canadiens, there’s a steep drop-off in production once the top players are listed.

The Habs faced backup Daniil Tarasov earlier in the week, but they’ll now have to score against the team’s starter, Elvis Merzlikins.

Projected Montreal Canadiens Lineup

Projected Columbus Blue Jackets

Voronko – Monahan – Marchenko

Chinakhov – Fantilli – Johnson

Astson-Reese – Danforth – Olivier

van Riemsdyk – Kuraly -Lebanc

Werenski – Fabbro

Provorov – Severson

Christiansen – Harris

Merzlikins

How to Watch The Montreal Canadiens vs. The Columbus Blue Jackets, Wednesday, November 27, 2024.

Game 22 of the regular season will be aired on RDS and Sportsnet East. Once the game is over, an instant recap complete with highlights will be available on Montreal Hockey Now.