Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images
Game 71: Montreal Canadiens vs. Columbus Blue Jackets
Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Blue Jackets region: FanDuel Sports Network Ohio
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
Montreal’s week off difficult opponents continues with the marching Columbus Blue Jackets in town. Columbus is trying to solidify its standing in second place in the Metropolitan Division, while the Canadiens are looking to use one of their two games in hand on the Boston Bruins to pull a bit further ahead of that rival, and maybe start on setting up a battle for second place in the Atlantic over the remainder of the season.
It will be tough for the Canadiens to get the win tonight given how well the Blue Jackets have been playing of late. If there is one bit of hope the Habs can look to for this game, it’s that Columbus hasn’t been quite as dominant on the road as their overall record since mid-January. Since the Olympics they are 4-3-0 on the road, with two of those wins coming beyond regulation, so that’s five of the seven games played outside of Nationwide Arena in which the opponent has claimed at least one point. Tonight’s game is the final one of a three-game road trip for the Blue Jackets before they return to the place they’ve gone 5-0-3 since the league resumed.
Hopefully the Canadiens remember the strategies they developed to get the puck out of their zone and up the ice on Tuesday versus the Carolina Hurricanes, because the Blue Jackets play a similar puck-possession style. The sooner they figure out how to handle that pressure, the higher their chances of beating one of the hottest teams in the NHL will be.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
Left Wing
Centre
Right Wing
#13 Cole Caufield
#14 Nick Suzuki
#20 Juraj Slafkovský
#15 Alex Newhook
#91 Oliver Kapanen
#93 Ivan Demidov
#76 Zachary Bolduc
#71 Jake Evans
#17 Josh Anderson
#90 Joe Veleno
#24 Phillip Danault
#11 Brendan Gallagher
Left Defence
Right Defence
#8 Mike Matheson
#53 Noah Dobson
#47 Jayden Struble
#48 Lane Hutson
#21 Kaiden Guhle
#45 Alexandre Carrier
Starter
Backup
#75 Jakub Dobeš
#32 Jacob Fowler
Injured: Kirby Dach, Alexandre Texier
Scratched: Patrik Laine, Samuel Montembeault, Arber Xhekaj
Columbus Blue Jackets projected lineup
Left Wing
Centre
Right Wing
Mason Marchment
Adam Fantilli
Kirill Marchenko
Danton Heinen
Sean Monahan
Conor Garland
Cole Sillinger
Charlie Coyle
Mathieu Olivier
Miles Wood
Boone Jenner
Isac Lundestrom
Left Defence
Right Defence
Zach Werenski
Damon Severson
Ivan Provorov
Dante Fabbro
Denton Mateychuk
Erik Gudbranson
Starter
Backup
Jet Greaves
Elvis Merzlikins