Game 5 Preview: Hurricanes vs Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens might be feeling roughed up after their 0-4 start to the season, but tonight the determination has to be in play as they face their new rival the Carolina Hurricanes. In the words of our contributor Emmanuel “Grosse game à soir” (Big game tonight).

The Canadiens are going to play the line shuffle as head coach Dominique Ducharme mixed up his lines again in an attempt to find the winning combination. Joel Edmundson who was reported to be close to returning to play will be out indefinitely as he flew out of Montreal to be at the side of his father who is in terminal stage of cancer. The team needs to rally together and produce more offense and really tighten down defensively in order to give Jake Allen a chance. Montreal has been outscored 15-3 so far this season, while never scoring more than 1 goal in a game.

For the Hurricanes the big story of course is the return of Jesperi Kotkaniemi to the Bell Center. Carolina social media accounts and fans alike have had a field day trolling the woes of the Canadiens, as the Hurricanes enter the Bell Center with a 2-0 record to start the year. The team boasts some of the best young firepower in the league led by one of the game’s best coaches in former Hurricane Captain and Stanley Cup winner Rod Brind’Amour.

Here are the projected lines for tonight’s game:

Montreal Canadiens

2021-22 Season Record: 0-4-0 8th in Atlantic Division

Captain: Shea Weber

Head Coach: Dominique Ducharme

Injuries: Shea Weber (undisclosed – indefinite), Joel Edmundson (personal – indefinite), Paul Byron (hip – December), Carey Price (personal – indefinite), Sami Niku (concussion – day-to-day)

Forwards

Mike Hoffman – Nick Suzuki – Brendan Gallagher

Jonathan Drouin – Christian Dvorak – Josh Anderson

Tyler Toffoli – Mathieu Perreault – Cole Caufield

Artturi Lehkonen – Jake Evans – Joel Armia

Defence

Brett Kulak – Jeff Petry

Alexander Romanov – David Savard

Ben Chiarot – Chris Wideman

Goalies

Jake Allen

Samuel Montembeault

Carolina Hurricanes

2021-22 Season Record: 2-0-0 5th in Metropolitan Division

Captain: Jordan Staal

Head Coach: Rod Brind’Amour

Injuries: None

Forwards

Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Sebastian Aho – Teuvo Teravainen

Andrei Svechnikov – Vincent Trocheck – Martin Necak

Nino Niederreiter – Jordan Staal – Jesper Fast

Jordan Martinook – Derek Stepan – Steven Lorentz

Defense

Jacob Slavin – Ethan Bear

Brady Skjei – Brett Pesce

Ian Cole – Tony DeAngelo

Goalies

Frederik Andersen

Antti Raanta