Credit: Matt Blewett-Imagn Images

Game 56: Montreal Canadiens @ Minnesota Wild

Start time: 7:30 PM EST / 4:30 PM PST
In the Canadiens regions: RDS (French)
In the Wild region: FanDuel Sportsnet North/Wisconsin
Streaming: Prime Monday Night Hockey

It’s a very different team the Montreal Canadiens will face tonight in St. Paul, Minnesota, not just because almost all of the Wild’s players are now healthy after a handful were kept home for the first game in Montreal, but because they’ve come out of the doldrums they were in with half a season played and no real pressure from below in the standings to force them to maintain their play. As the final third approached, they kicked themselves back into gear, scoring 14 goals over the course of a three-game winning streak.

It’s exactly the same number Montreal has produced on its own streak. Nine players have goals during this hot run, and eight have at least three points. The offence has been coming from throughout the lineup, and the defencemen have been getting more involved in the action.

Jakub Dobeš’s performance in net is probably playing a part in the blue line’s confidence to join in on the attack, and Martin St-Louis will stick with the hot hand tonight. It’s going to be tough for the Canadiens to keep this streak going given the Wild’s current level, but that has been true for each of the last three games Montreal has played, and Dobeš only seems to get better each night. It should be an entertaining back-and-forth battle between two teams that feature a lot of offensive firepower but also netminders who can cool off even the best scorers.

Montreal Canadiens projected lineup

Left Wing
Centre
Right Wing

#13 Cole Caufield
#14 Nick Suzuki
#77 Kirby Dach

#20 Juraj Slafkovský
#91 Oliver Kapanen
#93 Ivan Demidov

#90 Joe Veleno
#71 Jake Evans
#76 Zachary Bolduc

#17 Josh Anderson
#24 Phillip Danault
#11 Brendan Gallagher

Left Defence
Right Defence

#8 Mike Matheson
#21 Kaiden Guhle

#48 Lane Hutson
#53 Noah Dobson

#72 Arber Xhekaj
#45 Alexandre Carrier

Starter
Backup

#75 Jakub Dobeš
#35 Samuel Montembeault

Scratched: Sammy Blais, Jayden Struble
Injured: Patrik Laine, Alex Newhook, Alexandre Texier

Minnesota Wild projected lineup

Left Wing
Centre
Right Wing

Kirill Kaprizov
Ryan Hartman
Mats Zuccarello

Marcus Johansson
Joel Eriksson Ek
Matt Boldy

Vinnie Hinostroza
Danila Yurov
Vladimir Tarasenko

Marcus Foligno
Nico Sturm
Yakov Trenin

Left Defence
Right Defence

Quinn Hughes
Brock Faber

Jacob Middleton
Jared Spurgeon

Daemon Hunt
Zach Bogosian

Starter
Backup

Filip Gustavsson
Jesper Wallstedt