Canadiens vs. Red Wings: Game thread, rosters, lines, and how to watch

Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Red Wings region: Bally Sports Detroit X
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS Direct, TSN+

Jake Allen wasn’t sure when he’d get the call to play his first game following his recovery from injury. With the way Samuel Montembeault has been playing, he knew that there was no rush to get him back in the crease. However, Martin St-Louis has picked tonight for Allen to get back in the swing of things, the netminder’s first start since January 7.

He will be facing a team that is scoring more goals than it did in a rough patch in early December, but it’s also a team that struggles to keep opponents off the scoreboard. The club routinely allows four goals or more, though it has managed to limit the number to two per game in the last three contests, two of those games versus teams from Philadelphia and San Jose that are already looking ahead to the draft lottery.

The Canadiens may be another of those clubs destined for a high draft pick in the summer, but the Habs haven’t given up in their play on the ice. Some recent call-ups are injecting life into a team that had grown weary of terrible performances each night, and it’s leading to some entertaining games at the Bell Centre.

Scratched: Johnny Kovacevic
Injured: Joel Armia, Paul Byron, Cole Caufield, Jonathan Drouin, Jake Evans, Brendan Gallagher, Kaiden Guhle, Sean Monahan, Juraj Slafkovský