Canadiens @ Lightning: Game thread, rosters, lines, and how to watch

Montreal begins a home-and-home set with Tampa Bay.

• From
  
  Justin Blades
  

• At March 18, 2023 6:00 p.m

Montreal Canadiens @ Tampa Bay Lightning

like watching

Start time: 7:00 p.m. EDT / 4:00 p.m. PDT
In Canada: CityTV, Sportsnet East (English), TVA sports (French)
In the Lightning region: Bally Sports Sun X
Stream: ESPN+, Sportsnet now

As feared, the issue that plagued Kaiden Guhle throughout Thursday night’s game will keep him out of tonight’s road trip final against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The rookie defenseman is struggling with a lower body injury and appeared to have injured the same knee against the Florida Panthers in late December.

Not only has this dictated which defenders will play this game as they have to dress the only six players available, but the disciplinary act of removing Jonathan Drouin from the line-up after missing a team briefing had to be reversed at 18 to have skaters in the lineup. That means the Habs have a player coming in with a three-game point streak, but Martin St-Louis won’t be happy to have the decision taken out of his hands.

For Montreal it hasn’t been scoring lately, it has been the inability to stop the opposition from finding the net. In the last game, both Samuel Montembeault and Jake Allen had to be pulled after ineffective stints, failing to save a defense that allowed too many close-range shots.

Despite the draw, Montembeault is back for the second year in a row. He actually performed quite well in his second stint on Thursday night, preventing the Panthers from scoring 10 goals in the final 33 minutes of the game.

The proposed lineup of the Montreal Canadiens

Forward

defender

goalkeeper

scratched:
Injured/ill: Joel Armia, Paul Byron, Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach, Christian Dvorak, Jake Evans, Brendan Gallagher, Kaiden Guhle, Jordan Harris, Sean Monahan, Juraj Slafkovský, Arber Xhekaj

Tampa Bay Lightning projected lineup

Forward

defender

goalkeeper

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