The Canadiens host an Original Six divisional rival tonight as the Detroit Red Wings fly into the Bell Center. Make sure you give us your predictions in the comments section at the bottom of the page!
Always a treat to play against an Original Six team even if we are far removed from the powerhouse Red Wings of the 90’s featuring Steve Yzerman and Sergei Fedorov. Yzerman, who’s now the general manager, is at the helm of a team on the up and up as they feature a boat load of young and exciting talent. There’s still a lot to do in Motown but the future is finally looking bright. One of the players who will not be featured however is Tyler Bertuzzi who cannot cross into Canada, having refused to be vaccinated. He currently leads the Wings with five goals.
For the Canadiens it’s the same story for the sixth time this season as they hope to finally snap their five game losing streak in front of their home crowd. There was some glimpses of hope last game against the Carolina Hurricanes but confidence seemed to have finally collapsed and the team fell to their former teammate in Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Sami Niku is scheduled to make his season debut after suffering a concussion during the pre-season. He saw time on the powerplay at practice so expect him to have a fair amount of ice time.
Alex Nedeljkovic versus Jake Allen is scheduled to be the goaltending matchup.
Here’s the tale of the tape regarding both teams:
Detroit Red Wings
2021-22 Season Record: 2-1-1 (5 pts) 3rd in Atlantic Division
Head Coach: Jeff Blashill
Captain: Dylan Larkin
Injuries: Jakub Vrana (shoulder – 3 to 4 months)
Projected Lineup:
Forwards
**NB: Replacement for Tyler Bertuzzi has yet to be announced. Lineup changes will be announced at 7PM ET so in the meantime, here is the lineup used in Detroit’s last game against the Flames
**Tyler Bertuzzi – Dylan Larkin – Lucas Raymond
Robby Fabbri – Pius Suter – Filip Zadina
Vladislav Namestnikov – Michael Rasmussen – Adam Erne
Givani Smith – Mitchell Stephens – Sam Gagner
Defence
Danny Dekeyser – Filip Hronek
Nick Leddy – Moritz Seider
Marc Staal – Gustav Lindstrom
Goaltenders
Alex Nedeljkovic
Thomas Greiss
Montreal Canadiens
2021-22 Season Record: 0-5-0 (0 pts) 8th in Atlantic Division
Head Coach: Dominique Ducharme
Captain: Shea Weber
Injuries: Shea Weber (undisclosed – indefinite), Carey Price (personal – indefinite), Joel Edmundson (person – indefinite), Paul Byron (hip – December)
Projected Lineup
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
Ben Chiarot – Jeff Petry
Sami Niku – Brett Kulak
Alexander Romanov – David Savard
Goaltenders
Jake Allen
Samuel Montembeault