NHL Game Preview: Florida Panthers at Montreal Canadiens with Line Combinations 1/8/2026

AP Photo/Lynne Sladky

Florida Panthers (22-17-3, 47 pts) at Montreal Canadiens (24-13-6, 54 pts)

Venue: Bell Centre
Date: Thursday, January 8
Time: 8:00 pm EST
How To Watch: ESPN+/SCRIPPS/TSN2/RDS
Radio: 104.3 WQAM/TSN 690

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Florida Panthers News & Notes:

The Panthers suffered a 4-1 loss to the Maple Leafs on Tuesday night. They’re now 2-2-1 in their last five games, averaging 2.2 goals per game while allowing 3.2 goals per game.

Montreal Canadiens News & Notes:

The Canadiens picked up their second straight win last night with a 5-1 victory over the Flames. They’ve won four of their last five games, averaging 3.6 goals per game while allowing 2.6 goals per game.

Florida Panthers Projected Lines:

Luostarinen-Lundell-Reinhart
Verhaeghe-Bennett-Marchand
Samoskevich-Rodrigues-Greer
Boqvist-Kunin-Gregor

Forsling-Ekblad
Mikkola-Balinskis
Sebrango-Petry

Bobrovsky
Tarasov

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Montreal Canadiens Projected Lines:

Caufield-Suzuki-Texier
Slafkovsky-Kapanen-Demidov
Bolduc-Danault-Gallagher
Blais-Veleno-Beck

Matheson-Dobson
Hutson-Carrier
Xhekaj-Struble

Dobes
Fowler

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Players To Watch:

Florida Panthers

Brad Marchand scored a goal in Florida’s 3-2 loss to the Canadiens just nine days ago.

Montreal Canadiens

Nick Suzuki had two of Montreal’s three goals in their win over the Panthers on December 30th.

Injury Report:

Florida Panthers

LW Matthew Tkachuk – IR
C Aleksander Barkov – LTIR
C Tomas Nosek – Out
D Dmitry Kulikov – IR
LW Jonah Gadjovich – IR
C Cole Schwindt – IR
D Seth Jones – DTD

Montreal Canadiens

F Jake Evans – IR
D Kaiden Guhle – IR
F Patrik Laine – IR
F Alex Newhook – IR
D David Reinbacher – Out
F Josh Anderson – DTD
F Kirby Dach – IR

Next Game:

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