The Montreal Canadiens (13-13-4) face the Winnipeg Jets (18-9-2) at the Canada Life Centre on Monday night. The puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 pm ET.
The Habs are coming off an emotional 5-3 win over the New York Islanders in which forward Josh Anderson scored his first two goals of the season against a goaltender, leading to an emotional interview by the veteran winger.
19-year-old winger Juraj Slafkovsky also registered his first point in eight games while playing on the team’s top line. The results haven’t been great from an offensive standpoint, but there has been clear chemistry between Slafkovsky, Cole Caufield, and Nick Suzuki.
The trio is poised for an offensive surge, and will once again be featured on the Canadiens’ top line.
Jake Allen will be the starter for the Canadiens, his first start since December 10 against the Nashville Predators. As a reminder, several NHL teams are still interested in acquiring a goaltender, but with the NHL’s holiday roster freeze kicking in shortly, time is running out to make a trade this week.
The rest of the lineup will remain unchanged, which means forward Emil Heineman will have to wait before making his NHL debut.
As for the Winnipeg Jets, they’ll have to do without one of their best forwards for the foreseeable future.
The team announced Kyle Connor had been placed on the injured reserve with a knee injury. Connor was injured when Anaheim Ducks forward Ryan Strome kneed him last week. Strome received a game misconduct but escaped any further punishment.
Connor is the team’s best goal-scorer this season, with 17 goals in 26 games. Mark Scheifele currently leads the team in overall scoring, with 11 goals and 22 assists in just 29 games.
Despite lots of chaos this summer, the Jets have done quite well in 2023-24. They’re currently second in the Central Division with 38 points. They’ve won their last two games, including a 6-2 win against the Cup-contending Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night.
On that note, The Jets have controlled slightly less than 50 percent of the expected goals this year, which means they’re overachieving to a certain extent.
Montreal Canadiens Injuries
Winnipeg Jets Injuries
LW | C | RW |
---|---|---|
Cole Caufield | Nick Suzuki | Juraj Slafkovsky |
Jake Evans | Sean Monahan | Josh Anderson |
Joel Armia | Christian Dvorak | Brendan Gallagher |
Michael Pezzetta | Mitchell Stephens | Jesse Ylonen |
LD | RD |
---|---|
Mike Matheson | David Savard |
Kaiden Guhle | Justin Barron |
Jayden Struble | Johnathan Kovacevic |
Goalie |
---|
Jake Allen |
Samuel Montembeault |
Winnipeg Jets Projected Lineup
Ehlers – Scheifele – Vilardi
Perfetti – Namestnikov – Iafallo
Neiderreiter – Lowry – Appleton
Barron – Gustafsson – Jonsson-Fjallby
Defence
Morrissey – Demelo
Dillon – Pionk
Samberg – Schmidt
Goalie
Hellebuyck
TV
SN, RDS
Radio
Montreal Candiens: TSN 690
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