The Toronto Maple Leafs take on the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre. Here are the projected/expected lineups sourced from NHL.com staff writers, independent correspondents, and others.
MAPLE LEAFS (9-9-3) at CANADIENS (10-7-3)
7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SNE, SNO, SNP
Maple Leafs projected lineup
William Nylander — John Tavares — Calle Jarnkrok
Bobby McMann — Max Domi — Nicholas Robertson
Dakota Joshua — Scott Laughton — Easton Cowan
Sammy Blais — Steven Lorentz — Matias Maccelli
Morgan Rielly — Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Simon Benoit — Jake McCabe
Dakota Mermis — Troy Stecher
Joseph Woll
Dennis Hildeby
Scratched: Philippe Myers, Jacob Quillan
Injured: Chris Tanev (upper body), Auston Matthews (lower body), Anthony Stolarz (upper body), Brandon Carlo (lower body), Nicolas Roy (upper body), Matthew Knies (lower body)
Status report
Matthews and Knies took part in the Maple Leafs’ optional morning skate, but neither forward is ready to return. … Blais will play after being scratched in two of the past three games. … Quillan, a forward, will be a healthy scratch after playing the past two games.
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Canadiens projected lineup
Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Zach Bolduc
Juraj Slafkovsky — Oliver Kapanen — Ivan Demidov
Florian Xhekaj — Jake Evans — Josh Anderson
Jared Davidson — Joe Veleno — Brendan Gallagher
Mike Matheson — Noah Dobson
Jayden Struble — Lane Hutson
Arber Xhekaj — Alexandre Carrier
Jakub Dobes
Sam Montembeault
Scratched: Joshua Roy
Injured: Kirby Dach (broken foot), Alex Newhook (broken ankle), Kaiden Guhle (lower body), Patrik Laine (lower body)
Status report
Florian Xhekaj, the younger brother of Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj, will make his NHL debut after he was recalled from Laval of the American Hockey League on Friday. He’ll play in place of Roy, who will be a healthy scratch.
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