Canadiens @ Islanders: Game thread, and lines
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Credit: Thomas Salus-USA TODAY Sports
Start time: 7:30 PM EDT / 4:30 PM PDTIn the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)In the Islanders region: MSGSNStreaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
Playing a hot team, Martin St-Louis has opted to go with Samuel Montembeault in net again tonight versus the New York Islanders. It’s possible this will be Montembeault’s last start before the season finale at the Bell Centre on Tuesday. Montembeault is coming off a game in which he didn’t need to do a lot versus the Philadelphia Flyers, getting nine goals in support.
It will be interesting to see what Juraj Slafkovský can achieve following his hat-trick performance. He was already full of confidence with his play in the second half of the season, but he unlocked a new level with three goals. He’s been held to under four shots just once in his last six games, and you know he’ll want to shoot at every opportunity.
First, however, he has to get into the Islanders’ zone, and that’s been more difficult since Patrick Roy took over. He has the team playing well defensively — at even strength at least — so the Habs will need to work to create their opportunities. If the defence can be as active as it was versus the Flyers, they should still be able to get the Islanders scrambling around their own zone.
Injured: Kirby Dach, Kaiden Guhle, Joshua Roy, Chris Wideman, Arber XhekajScratched: Colin White, Jesse Ylönen
New York Islanders projected lineup Left Wing Centre Right Wing Casey Cizikas Bo Horvat Mathew Barzal Simon Holmstrom Brock Nelson Kyle Palmieri Anders Lee Jean-Gabriel Pageau Pierre Engvall Matt Martin Kyle MacLean Cal Clutterbuck Left Defence Right Defence Alexander Romanov Noah Dobson Adam Pelech Ryan Pulock Mikey Reilly Sebastian Aho Starter Backup Semyon Varlamov Ilya Sorokin
