Canadiens Preview And Lines: Habs Aim To Sweep Season Series

The Montreal Canadiens (34-30-9) are set to host the Florida Panthers (44-26-3), with the puck drop scheduled for 7 pm ET.

The Habs are still in the driver’s seat when it comes to their playoff odds, as they hold the inside track to secure the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, but they simply cannot leave any points on the table if they expect to hold off the many teams chasing them.

ON TOPIC: Canadiens Playoff Odds – Down To The Eastern Conference Wire

Fortunately for the Canadiens, they’ve won all three of the matchups against the defending Stanley Cup champions this season. It started with a crucial 4-0 win over the Panthers in late December, followed up by two hard-fought wins in March, including Sunday’s 4-2 victory that put their quest for the playoffs back on track.

As per tradition, it was Nick Suzuki and Lane Hutson that led the charge on Sunday, but the Canadiens also received important contributions from Juraj Slafokvsky, Brendan Gallagher, Kaiden Guhle, and Patrik Laine, among others.

NHL GameScore Impact Card for Montreal Canadiens on 2025-03-30: pic.twitter.com/Y6wGKT6oEe

— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) March 30, 2025

With just nine games left on the docket, it’s essential that every player finds another gear, even if the team didn’t particularly expect to be involved in a playoff race this late in the season. The Eastern Conference Wild Card hopefuls are limping to the finish line, giving the Canadiens a unique opportunity for a team that isn’t quite done with its rebuild.

In addition to the Canadiens and Panthers game, fans will want to keep an eye on a few other matchups. The Columbus Blue Jackets are hosting the Nashville Predators, while the New York Islanders are set to face the Tampa Bay Lightning. The St. Louis Blues are also set to play the Detroit Red Wings, but if we’re being honest, the playoffs are essentially out of reach for Detroit.

There are no changes expected to the lineup on Tuesday, which means Michael Pezzetta will once again play on the fourth line, and Emil Heineman is set to lineup alongside Alex Newhook and Patrik Laine on the second line. It also means the new defensive pairings will stay intact, despite some less than ideal results the last time these two teams played. The Hutson and Kaiden Guhle pairing enjoyed solid results, as per usual, while the other two pairings were outplayed by a significant margin.

For the view from the other side of the rink make sure to visit our sister site, Florida Hockey Now.

Montreal Canadiens Projected Lineup

Florida Panthers Projected Lineup

Verhaeghe – Barkov – Reinhart

Samoskevich – Bennett – Marchand

Luostarinen – Lundell – Boqvist

Greer – Sturm – Rodrigues

Forsling – Jones

Mikkola – Schmidt

Bjornfot – Balinskis

Vanacek

How to Watch the Montreal Canadiens vs. the Florida Panthers, Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Game 74 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.