Montreal Canadiens
Canadiens Preview: Montembeault Given Start Vs Chicago
The Montreal Canadiens (1-1-0) are set to face the Chicago Blackhawks (0-1-1), with the puck drop scheduled for 7 pm ET.
The Habs quickly put their opening-game of the regular season in the rearview mirror with a solid performance on Thursday, leading to a 5-1 win for Martin St-Louis’ troops.
Both Oliver Kapanen and Zachary Bolduc scored, firmly putting the momentum on Montreal’s side, despite being outshot and outchanced by Detroit. For Kapanen, it was his second goal in as many games, a sign that his offensive potential is higher than many, including myself, assumed.
The actual underlying numbers for the Kapanen, Ivan Demidov, and Alex Newhook line are far from impressive, but it’s important to give them a reasonably long runway to establish chemistry. In the meantime, their fantastic pace should cover up some of the 5v5 issues to a certain extent.
As for Bolduc, he’s yet to play a game with the Canadiens that did not feature him scoring, a situation he’ll want to extend beyond the current sample size, which is rather small.
Regardless, considering the pressure in Montreal, it was crucial for Bolduc to quickly make a good impression with his new team.
Among the defencemen, it was Noah Dobson and Mike Matheson who led the defensive and offensive charge, as evidenced by their great possession numbers at this (very early) point of the season.
ON TOPIC: Early Canadiens Results From The Dobson And Bolduc Trades
St-Louis opted not to change any of his skaters ahead of Saturday’s match-up, however, there will be one roster modification, with goaltender Samuel Montembeault replacing Jakub Dobes as the team’s starter.
For the view from the other side of the rink, don’t forget to visit our sister site Chicago Hockey Now.
Montreal Canadiens Potential Lineup
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| Cole Caufield | Nick Suzuki | Juraj Slafkovsky |
| Zachary Bolduc | Kirby Dach | Brendan Gallagher |
| Alex Newhook | Oliver Kapanen | Ivan Demidov |
| Josh Anderson | Jake Evans | Patrik Laine |
| Mike Matheson | Noah Dobson |
| Kaiden Guhle | Lane Hutson |
| Arber Xhekaj | Alex Carrier |
| Samuel Montembeault |
| Jakub Dobes |
Projected Chicago Blackhawks Lineup
Colton Dach – Connor Bedard – Andre Burakovsky
Teuvo Teravainen – Frank Nazar – Tyler Bertuzzi
Ryan Donato – Ryan Greene – Ilya Mikheyev
Nick Foligno – Lukas Reichel – Sam Lafferty
Defensive Pairings
Alex Vlasic – Sam Rinzel
Wyatt Kaiser – Artyom Levshunov
Matt Grzelcyk – Connor Murphy
Spencer Knight
How to Watch the Montreal Canadiens vs. the Chicago Blackhawks, Saturday, October 11, 2025
The Canadiens game versus the Blackhawks will be aired on Sportsnet East, City TV, and TVA Sports. Once the game is over, an instant recap complete with highlights will be available on Montreal Hockey Now.
