Canadiens vs. Maple Leafs: Game thread and lines
Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images
Game 21: Montreal Canadiens vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In Canada: CBC, Sportsnet E/O/P (English), TVA Sports (French)
Streaming: CBC Gem, ESPN+
The good news is that Jake Evans is good to go after taken an elbow from Tom Wilson last game. The better news is that Florian Xhekaj, called up when Evans had to miss practice on Friday, will be in the lineup anyway to make his NHL debut. The forward hasn’t had the start to the season in the AHL to match how he played in his first professional campaign, but brings some of the elements Martin St-Louis has been asking his players to provide. The key to a good first game for him will be to play on the edge without going over it and forcing the penalty kill into action.
Jakub Dobeš gets the start tonight after he came on in relief early in the second period on Thursday. He didn’t have much more success that Samuel Montembeault in the game, allowing four goals, and has now gone five consecutive appearances without achieving anything higher than an .870 save percentage. Montreal needs that trend to end if it’s going to claim the win.
Montreal’s offence has been slowly recovering since losing Alex Newhook to injury and being forced to juggle lines that had been working well. They did score four in the loss to Washington and were a save from a defenceman away from netting five. With Toronto down Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies, that level of production could be enough to come out on top tonight.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| #13 Cole Caufield | #14 Nick Suzuki | #76 Zachary Bolduc |
| #20 Juraj Slafkovský | #91 Oliver Kapanen | #93 Ivan Demidov |
| #63 Florian Xhekaj | #71 Jake Evans | #17 Josh Anderson |
| #49 Jared Davidson | #90 Joe Veleno | #11 Brendan Gallagher |
| Left Defence | Right Defence |
|---|---|
| #8 Mike Matheson | #53 Noah Dobson |
| #47 Jayden Struble | #48 Lane Hutson |
| #72 Arber Xhekaj | #45 Alexandre Carrier |
| Starter | Backup |
|---|---|
| #75 Jakub Dobeš | #35 Samuel Montembeault |
Scratched: Joshua Roy
Injured: Kirby Dach, Kaiden Guhle, Patrik Laine, Alex Newhook
Toronto Maple Leafs projected lineup
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| William Nylander | John Tavares | Calle Jarnkrok |
| Bobby McMann | Max Domi | Nick Robertson |
| Steven Lorentz | Scott Laughton | Easton Cowan |
| Sammy Blais | Dakota Joshua | Matias Maccelli |
| Left Defence | Right Defence |
|---|---|
| Morgan Rielly | Oliver Ekman-Larsson |
| Simon Benoit | Jake McCabe |
| Dakota Mermis | Troy Stecher |
| Starter | Backup |
|---|---|
| Joseph Woll | Dennis Hildeby |
