Game 78: Montreal Canadiens vs. Florida Panthers

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

There are five games left for the Montreal Canadiens to play in the regular season, and the next three will be contested at the Bell Centre. Before ending the campaign versus Metropolitan Division opponents, the Habs will face two final division rivals before the playoffs begin. Before a clash with implications for the top seed in the group, they will take on the Florida Panthers, a team that went into the season dreaming about a third consecutive Stanley Cup, and now on the way to finishing last in the Eastern Conference.

Injuries spoiled any chance the Panthers had of another championship. Tonight’s lineup features only a handful of their regulars with several injured throughout the year and then a group of veterans shut down for the season a few days ago to get them a head start on their recovery. What was already a long list today added Matthew Tkachuk, who is out day-to-day. The leading scorers among the active players are Sam Bennett with 58 points on the year and Carter Verhaeghe with 54; Montreal will dress five players who have hit at least 60 so far.

Recovery might be part of the reasoning behind all the absences, but there is probably also some tanking going on. The Panthers have a top-10 protected draft pick in play, and, currently sixth from the bottom, they are likely to hold on to that pick, The farther they fall, the better the prospect they can select. An anomalous year from a team that should be expected to contend for the Stanley Cup again next season is an unexpected opportunity for the Panthers to add a potential future star to the organization, so losing is probably in the best long-term interest, and that’s a situation that would suit the Canadiens just fine.

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

Florida Panthers projected lineup

Left Wing
Centre
Right Wing

Carter Verhaeghe
Sam Bennett
Mackie Samoskevich

Jesper Boqvist
Eetu Luostarinen
A.J. Greer

Cole Schwindt
Tomas Nosek
Noah Gregor

Cole Reinhardt
Luke Kunin
Vinnie Hinostroza

Left Defence
Right Defence

Gustav Forsling
Dmitry Kulikov

Tobias Bjornfot
Seth Jones

Donovan Sebrango
Michael Benning

Starter
Backup

Daniil Tarasov
Sergei Bobrovsky