The surging Montreal Canadiens will look to stay hot as they embark on their longest road trip of this young season, starting with the struggling Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
The Habs (5-2-0) bounced back in their last game, as they doubled up on the Buffalo Sabres 4-2 in Montreal. Oliver Kapanen scored the team’s first goal, his fourth of his rookie campaign, while Juraj Slafkovsky also got scored his third. Defenseman Lane Hutson potted his first of the season, in what would be credited as the eventual game winner. Goaltender Jakub Dobes made 30 saves for his third win of the season.
The Flames (1-6-0) are struggling this season, and that’s putting it mildly. After winning their season-opening game, a 4-3 shootout win over their provincial rival, the Edmonton Oilers, Calgary has dropped six in a row, all in regulation. Four of their six losses they were actually the team to open the scoring. Three of their last four losses also saw the Flames squander late leads.
Last season the Flames took both games versus the Canadiens. Calgary won 3-2 in overtime on November 5 in Montreal, and then took a 1-0 win March 8 in Calgary.
The Canadiens have opted to start Dobes versus the Flames, rather than their usual starter Samuel Montembeault. Dobes is off to a fantastic start this season, punctuated by a perfect 3-0 record, as well as a sparkling 0.939 save percentage, miles ahead of Montembeault’s save percentage, which is currently just 0.857.
The most notable difference has been their results when it comes to stopping high-quality chances. Montembeault has faced 19 high-danger scoring chances, stopping just 13 of them, whereas Dobes has stopped 16 of the 18 quality chances sent his way. That’s not to say head coach Martin St-Louis will run with Dobes as his starter for the foreseeable future, but as it stands, he’s giving the Canadiens their best chance to win.
Dobes makes a huge save in OT, and then tries to relaunch the offence. #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/A472pBLGsq
— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) October 17, 2025
“We have two good goalies,” explained St-Louis. “Doby is on a good streak right now, Monty will play tomorrow.”
In other news, the Habs announced Patrik Laine will seek a second opinion on his lower-body injury, and thus will not be available to play on Wednesday. He is still listed as day-to-day.
Montreal Canadiens Projected Lineup
Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Juraj Slafkovsky
Alex Newhook – Oliver Kapanen – Ivan Demidov
Josh Anderson – Jake Evans – Brendan Gallagher
Zach Bolduc – Joe Veleno – Joshua Roy
Mike Matheson – Noah Dobson
Jayden Struble – Lane Hutson
Arber Xhekaj – Alexandre Carrier
Jakub Dobes
Flames projected lineup
Jonathan Huberdeau – Nazem Kadri – Joel Farabee
Blake Coleman – Mikael Backlund -Matt Coronato
Samuel Honzek – Morgan Frost – Connor Zary
Ryan Lomberg – Justin Kirkland – Adam Klapka
Kevin Bahl – Rasmus Andersson
Jake Bean – MacKenzie Weegar
Joel Hanley – Zayne Parekh
Dustin Wolf
How To Watch
The Montreal Canadiens Versus The Calgary Flames, October 22, 2025, will be aired on Sportsnet and RDS. An instant recap will be available on Sportsnaut as soon as the final whistle blows.
Marc has been covering the Habs for over a decade. He previously worked for Journal Metro, The Athletic, The … More about Marc Dumont