Canadiens vs. Ducks: Game thread and lines
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Credit: David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports
Start time: 7:30 PM EST / 4:30 PM PSTIn the Canadiens region: RDS (French)In the Ducks region: Victory+Streaming: ESPN+ (USA), Prime Video (CAN)
For the second time this season playing the Washington Capitals, it was the third period that got away from Montreal. On Saturday, that spoiled a very good 40 minutes of hockey in front of the home crowd, partly because they couldn’t score on four breakaway they generated in the final 20 minutes. That left the team doing some one-on-one drills with the goalies at practice yesterday, but they also need to find a way to carry the same play they’ve shown through each first period of this homestand, and the middle one last game, to make life easier on themselves late in games.
A weaker opponent on the docket tonight allows Martin St-Louis to bring Justin Barron down off the shelf for a game, which should be seen as a positive for Jayden Struble despite sitting this game out. Barring a great game from Barron, you’d expect Struble to be back in to try to contain Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on Thursday.
Tonight will be Jacob Trouba’s Ducks debut after Montreal just faced him when he was captaining the New York Rangers on November 30. Anaheim will hope his arrival gives a young team a needed boost. Habs fans just hope a player with a history of dirty hits doesn’t disrupt the perfect bill of health the Canadiens are currently enjoying.
Scratched: Michael Pezzetta, Jayden Struble
Anaheim Ducks projected lineup Left Wing Centre Right Wing Frank Vatrano Ryan Strome Troy Terry Cutter Gauthier Mason McTavish Alex Killorn Brock McGinn Isac Lundestrom Brett Leason Ross Johnston Jansen Harkins Sam Colangelo Left Defence Right Defence Jackson Lacombe Olen Zellweger Cam Fowler Radko Gudas Bruan Dumoulin Jacob Trouba Starter Backup Lukas Dostal John Gibson
