The Montreal Canadiens (15-10-3) are set to host the Tampa Bay Lightning (16-11-2), with the puck drop scheduled for 7:00 pm ET.
The Habs will look to bounce back after a rather underwhelming performance versus the St. Louis Blues that resulted in a 4-3 loss. The Canadiens held an edge in shots, but the Blues did a much better job taking advantage of their high-danger scoring chances.
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The Lightning are also in a funk, though their issues are a little more evident in the last stretch of games. They’ve lost four in a row, while failing to score in consecutive shutout losses.
To make matters more difficult for Tampa Bay, their starter, Andrei Vasilevskiy, was placed on the injured reserve (IR) Monday, which means the Canadiens are likely to face Jonas Johansson or Brandon Halverson on Tuesday.
As for the Canadiens, they’re once again going to rely on Jakub Dobes, a fairly good indication that he’s currently considered the team’s defacto starter, rather than veteran Samuel Montembeault. It will mark the third consecutive game in which Dobes gets the call.
Depth Scoring
While there’s no doubt the team’s top players are doing their part from an offensive standpoint, the Canadiens will need some players in the bottom six to show some semblance of offence.
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Forwards such as Jake Evans, Brendan Gallagher, Joe Veleno, and Josh Anderson have provided little to no offence in December, and their problems go beyond the lack of goals. For the most part, they’re stuck defending, which is a good sign that they’re being outshot and outchanced on a nightly basis.
It’s one thing to provide limited offence, but it’s another issue entirely to be a significant drag on the team’s puck possession numbers. It’s essentially the worst of both worlds.
Montreal Canadiens Projected Lineup
Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Juraj Slafkovsky
Alexandre Texier – Oliver Kapanen – Ivan Demidov
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Josh Anderson – Jake Evans – Brendan Gallagher
Jared Davidson – Joe Veleno – Zachary Bolduc
Mike Matheson – Noah Dobson
Jayden Struble – Lane Hutson
Arber Xhekaj – Alexandre Carrier
Jakub Dobes
Tampa Bay Lightning Projected Lineup
Brandon Hagel – Anthony Cirelli – Nikita Kucherov
Jake Guentzel – Brayden Point – Nick Paul
Zemgus Girgensons – Yanni Gourde – Pontus Holmberg
Gage Goncalves – Jack Finley – Oliver Bjorkstrand
Victor Hedman – Max Crozier
J.J. Moser – Darren Raddysh
Charle-Edouard D’Astous – Emil Lilleberg
Brandon Halverson
How To Watch The Habs Vs. The Lightning
The Montreal Canadiens versus the Tampa Bay Lightning, Tuesday, December 9, 2025, will be aired on TSN2 and RDS. An instant recap complete with highlights will be available on Sportsnaut as soon as the final whistle blows.
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