Credit: David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports

Game 77: Montreal Canadiens vs. New Jersey Devils

Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Devils region: MSGSN
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+

The Montreal Canadiens sent Jacob Fowler back to Montreal before yesterday’s game in New Jersey so he could sleep in his own bed before playing the Devils in today’s rematch. Fowler’s contributions to the current eight-game winning streak have been three wins including the one versus the New York Islanders that began it, and a .914 save percentage. At a time in the season when a lot of teams around the league are struggling to push themselves over the finish line, the Canadiens are experiencing their greatest success, and stabilization of the goaltending position is the biggest reason for that current form.

Alternatively, goaltending is one of the issues that cost the Devils a return to the playoffs. Jacob Markstrom was supposed to be the solution to a decades-long search for a goaltender following Martin Brodeur’s tenure, but in 41 starts this season he’s posted an .883 save percentage, not much better than the .872 mark that cost Samuel Montembeault a spot in Montreal’s lineup. The Devils have just 22 wins from his games, unable to outproduce the 3.12 goals he allows as a nightly average.

Last night’s shootout win was the closest the Canadiens came to having their winning streak ended. The Devils won’t be a playoff team, but they proved that they’re still dangerous enough to pose a challenge even to a top team like Montreal. They have some dangerous forwards who can score, and will be looking to make up for last night’s loss. If the Habs are as serious about winning the Eastern Conference as Dobeš was in last night’s post-game comments, they will need to be better defensively after seeing a 3-0 lead slip away 24 hours ago.

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

#32 Jacob Fowler
#35 Samuel Montembeault

Injured: Alexandre Carrier, Kirby Dach, Alexandre Texier
Scratched: Jakub Dobeš, Adam Engström, Patrik Laine

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

Jacob Markstrom
Jake Allen