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Canadiens Preview And Lines: Montembeault, New Lines

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Montreal Canadiens vs San Jose Sharks

The Montreal Canadiens (24-23-5) are set to face the San Jose Sharks (15-33-6) on Tuesday, with the puck drop scheduled for 10:30 pm ET.



Things have gone from bad to worse for the Habs, as evidenced by their complete collapse against the lowly Anaheim Ducks on Sunday. Montreal started on the right foot and enjoyed a dominant first period, but they were outplayed by a wide margin by Anaheim, a team that is on pace to score the fewest goals in the NHL.

The poor showing by the Canadiens led to head coach Martin St-Louis benching sniper Patrik Laine, a decision that is justified by evaluating his 5v5 numbers.

We all knew it would take a while for Laine to find his rhythm, but it’s also clear he has little to no chemistry with his centre, Kirby Dach. As it stands, Dach is producing fewer primary assists at 5v5 than any other player on the team. Pairing a centre that can’t generate assists with a sniper is far from ideal.

That’s not say the lack of chemistry is all due to Dach’s poor playmaking, but there is clearly a roster construction issue at play.

ON TOPIC: How The Montreal Canadiens Can Avoid Benching Patrik Laine

St-Louis seems to have picked up on the oil and water situation on the second line, leading him to roll new lines at practice on Monday.

He kept his first line together, but dropped Laine to the third line, while David Reinbacher took rushes on the second line in place of Josh Anderson, who was too injured to practice.

As of now, we will base the projected Canadiens lineup with the lines at practice. If anything changes, we will update the lineup.

Finally, goaltender Samuel Montembeault will be called upon to make the start, rather than rookie netminder Jakub Dobes.

If you’re looking for the view from the other side of the rink, make sure to visit our sister site, San Jose Hockey Now.

Montreal Canadiens Projected Lineup

Cole CaufieldNick SuzukiJuraj Slafkovsky
Alex NewhookKirby DachJosh Anderson
Owen BeckChristian DvorakBrendan Gallagher
Patrik LaineJake EvansJoel Armia
Mike MathesonAlexandre Carrier
Lane HutsonLogan Mailloux
Arber Xhekaj David Savard
Jakub Dobes
Samuel Montembeault

San Jose Sharks Projected Lineup

Eklund – Celebrini – Toffoli

Zetterlund – Poturalski – Smith

Graf – Kunin – Gooddrow

Grundstrom – White – Duehr

 

Walman – Thrun

Ferraro – Thompson

Mukhamadullin -Liljegren

Georgiev

How to Watch The Montreal Canadiens vs. San Jose Sharks, Tuesday, February 4, 2025.

Game 53 of the regular season will be aired on RDS and TSN2. Once the game is over, an instant recap complete with highlights will be available on Montreal Hockey Now.

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Dana

The Celebrini v Hutson game within the game should be interesting. Bet both elevate tonight

Tyrone

Anybody catch Evans’ brilliant play near the end of the 2nd period. He’s going off on a line change and the door is inside the blueline. The puck turns over and the Habs can come in but it’ll be offside because Evans is inside the line. So, while he’s actually standing inside the door of the bench, he stretches out his left leg back onto the ice and over the blueline. So he’s standing off the ice inside the blueline, with his left leg on the ice outside the blueline to keep the play onside. Friggin’ awesome.

Last edited 9 days ago by Tyrone