Credit: David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports

Game 66: Montreal Canadiens vs. Anaheim Ducks

Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Ducks region: KCOP-13, Victory+
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+

This could have been a game in which the Montreal Canadiens were seeking some bonus points after four consecutive wins, but their play wasn’t up to the standard last night that they’d shown through the last couple of games, and they lost for a second time this season to the San Jose Sharks. Now, tonight’s game is one the Habs have to win to avoid a disappointing weekend back-to-back.

Montreal scored five goals on the Ducks when they met just over a week ago, and such a performance should be enough to get the win in this rematch, especially with Jacob Fowler in net. In the last three games, however, they haven’t scored more than three times. It’s a team built more for offence than defence, and will need to take better advantage of its chances, especially on a power play that has gone one-for-eight this week. The Ducks are not a strong penalty-killing team, and that should be to Montreal’s advantage.

After this game, four of Montreal’s next five matches will be played versus teams currently one to three points lower in the standings. Those will all be important games for the Canadiens to play their best hockey to really solidify their playoff standing. Tonight is their chance to set themselves up well with a consistent effort and an important two points before tackling that potentially season-defining stretch.

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

#11 Brendan Gallagher
#71 Jake Evans
#77 Kirby Dach

#17 Josh Anderson
#24 Phillip Danault
#85 Alexandre Texier

Left Defence
Right Defence

#8 Mike Matheson
#53 Noah Dobson

#21 Kaiden Guhle
#48 Lane Hutson

#47 Jayden Struble
#45 Alexandre Carrier

Starter
Backup

#32 Jacob Fowler
#35 Samuel Montembeault

Scratched: Zachary Bolduc, Jakub Dobeš, Patrik Laine, Joe Veleno, Arber Xhekaj

Anaheim Ducks projected lineup

Left Wing
Centre
Right Wing

Chris Kreider
Leo Carlsson
Cutter Gauthier

Mason McTavish
Mikael Granlund
Beckett Sennecke

Jeffrey Viel
Ryan Poehling
Alex Killorn

Frank Vatrano
Tim Washe
Jansen Harkins

Left Defence
Right Defence

Jackson LaCombe
Jacob Trouba

Olen Zellweger
John Carlson

Pavel Mintyukov
Ian Moore

Starter
Backup

Lukas Dostal
Ville Husso