Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images
Game 15: Montreal Canadiens vs. Utah Mammoth
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In Canada: CityTV, Sportsnet East (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the Mammoth region: Utah16
Streaming: ESPN+, Sportsnet+
Back at home for four games over the next eight days, the Canadiens have turned to Samuel Montembeault for the start. His last outing at the Bell Centre started poorly, with a goal on the first shot of the game and two more in the minutes that followed, but he had a strong recovery in the game versus the Philadelphia Flyers to help his team claim a point.
The goaltender will of course want a better opening to this game, but the Mammoth are one of the NHL’s best teams in the first 20 minutes, matching Montreal’s 15 goals in the opening frame that stands as both teams’ most productive. The Canadiens’ best chance might come in the second period where they’ve been finding a lot of success in recent games as they learn how to use the long change to their advantage with their new breakout tactics, if Montembeault can lock things down in the first.
A win would be a good start because things don’t get much easier after this game on the homestand with several teams that have given the Habs trouble in recent years. Continuing to build confidence among the depth players with some secondary offence will be key to their ability to get out of this stretch over the next week with their division lead intact.
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
#77 Kirby Dach
#11 Brendan Gallagher
#17 Josh Anderson
#71 Jake Evans
#90 Joe Veleno
Left Defence
Right Defence
#8 Mike Matheson
#53 Noah Dobson
#47 Jayden Struble
#48 Lane Hutson
#72 Arber Xhekaj
#45 Alexandre Carrier
Starter
Backup
#35 Samuel Montembeault
#75 Jakub Dobeš
Injured: Kaiden Guhle, Patrik Laine
Utah Mammoth projected lineup
Left Wing
Centre
Right Wing
Clayton Keller
Logan Cooley
Nick Schmaltz
J.J. Peterka
Barrett Hayton
Dylan Guenther
Lawson Crouse
Jack McBain
Michael Carcone
Brandon Tanev
Kevin Stenlund
Kailer Yamamoto
Left Defence
Right Defence
Mikhail Sergachev
Dmitri Simashev
Nate Schmidt
John Marino
Ian Cole
Olli Maatta
Starter
Backup
Karel Vejmelka
Vitek Vanecek
