Canadiens @ Sabres: Game thread, rosters, lines, and how to watch

Montreal Canadiens @ Buffalo Sabres

How to watch

Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In Canada: Sportsnet East, Sportsnet Pacific (English)
In the Canadiens region: RDS (French)
In the Sabres region: MSG Buffalo
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS Direct, Sportsnet Now

On Saturday, Montreal faced a Columbus Blue Jackets team that is simply having some fun offensively at this point of the season. But it was Montreal’s skaters who got the most enjoyment out of an 8-2 result, especially the top line of Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Nick Suzuki, and Mike Hoffman, which posted a combined 10 points, including the first ever hat trick for RHP. The performance also helped Suzuki earned the honour of the NHL’s second star of the week, capping off an eight-point run, and extending a multi-point streak to four games.

One player who was quiet versus the Blue Jackets was Kirby Dach, who had clearly emptied his gas tank in an exceptional 24-minute performance versus the Boston Bruins two nights prior. He’ll be recovered from that effort now, and should be more of a force is Buffalo.

He’ll probably be the one sent out to lock down Buffalo’s top line, but tonight that may not feature Tage Thompson, the Sabres best story this season and the player who ranks sixth in the Rocket Richard standings. Thompson is a game-time decision, but a Sabres team six points out of a playoff spot can’t dwell on the fact that their star isn’t available, or at least not at 100%.

Montreal Canadiens projected lineup

Scratched: Rem Pitlick, Chris Wideman
Injured/Ill: Josh Anderson, Joel Armia, Paul Byron, Cole Caufield, Christian Dvorak, Kaiden Guhle, Sean Monahan, Juraj Slafkovský, Arber Xhekaj

Buffalo Sabres projected lineup