Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

Game 76: Montreal Canadiens @ New Jersey Devils

Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In the Canadiens region: CityTV, Sportsnet East (English), TVS Sports (French)
In the Devils region: MSG
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+

Both the Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators were beaten on Saturday afternoon, and that means the highest total that can be achieved by whichever team that takes the second wild-card position is 100 points. That is the number the Montreal Canadiens can reach tonight if they extend their winning streak to eight in New Jersey. They won’t be able to clinch their playoff berth like the Buffalo Sabres and Tampa Bay Lightning already have because the Habs haven’t locked up the regulation-wins tiebreaker.

They can set up a chance to clinch tomorrow in the second half of this home-and-home series with the Devils if they get just a point tonight, but that would be a disappointing result for a group that comes in with seven consecutive wins, allowing a total of 11 goals in that time and no more than two in any of the past six games. Montreal believes it can win any game it plays, and has been better both in recent games and over the full season than today’s opponent.

One of the keys today will be Montreal’s third line continuing the form it’s shown since the Olympic break, one of the Canadiens’ most consistent units in the last few weeks. The first and second lines can experience varying levels of success depending on how they’re being defended, but the trio of Zachary Bolduc, Jake Evans, and Josh Anderson has been playing hard deep in the offensive zone and setting the table for their more skilled teammates. Every shift that begins in New Jersey’s end is one where the Devils aren’t deploying Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt in the attacking zone, which is the one thing that could threaten the Habs’ winning streak in this road trip finale.

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
#72 Arber Xhekaj

Starter
Backup

#75 Jakub Dobeš
#32 Jacob Fowler

Injured: Alexandre Carrier, Kirby Dach, Alexandre Texier
Scratched: Adam Engström, Patrik Laine, Samuel Montembeault

New Jersey Devils projected lineup

Left Wing
Centre
Right Wing

Jesper Bratt
Jack Hughes
Connor Brown

Timo Meier
Nico Hischier
Dawson Mercer

Lenni Hameenaho
Cody Glass
Nick Bjugstad

Marc McLaughlin
Paul Cotter
Brian Halonen

Left Defence
Right Defence

Jonas Siegenthaler
Dougie Hamilton

Luke Hughes
Johnny Kovacevic

Brenden Dillon
Simon Nemec

Starter
Backup

Jake Allen
Jacob Markstrom