Projected Lineups for Canadiens vs Sabres – 10/20/25

The Montreal Canadiens take on the Buffalo Sabres tonight. Here are the projected/expected lineups sourced from NHL.com staff writers, independent correspondents, and others.

SABRES (2-3-0) at CANADIENS (4-2-0)

7:30 p.m. ET; RDS, Prime, MSG-B

Sabres projected lineup

Zach Benson — Jiri Kulich — Tage Thompson
Josh Doan — Ryan McLeod — Alex Tuch
Jason Zucker — Peyton Krebs — Jack Quinn
Mason Geertsen — Tyson Kozak — Josh Dunne

Bowen Byram — Rasmus Dahlin
Owen Power — Conor Timmins
Mattias Samuelsson — Zach Metsa

Alex Lyon
Colten Ellis

Scratched: Beck Malenstyn, Zachary Jones, Noah Ostlund

Injured: Jacob Bryson (concussion protocol), Josh Norris (upper body), Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (lower body), Michael Kesselring (undisclosed), Jordan Greenway (middle body)

Status report

Bryson, a defenseman, did not make the trip. “He feels a lot better, but he’s still in protocol,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. … Malenstyn will not play for personal reasons. … Metsa will make his NHL debut after he was recalled from Rochester of the AHL on Thursday.

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Canadiens projected lineup

Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Juraj Slafkovsky
Oliver Kapanen — Alex Newhook — Ivan Demidov
Josh Anderson — Jake Evans — Brendan Gallagher
Zach Bolduc — Joe Veleno — Owen Beck

Mike Matheson — Noah Dobson
Jayden Struble — Lane Hutson
Arber Xhekaj — Alexandre Carrier

Jakub Dobes
Sam Montembeault

Scratched: None

Injured: Kaiden Guhle (lower body), Kirby Dach (lower body), Patrik Laine (lower body)

Status report

Dobes will make his third start, his second in three games. … Dach and Laine, both forwards, each remain day to day and both will miss a second straight game.

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