Canadiens lineup tonight: Montreal's projected lines against Calgary Flames | November 5, 2024

The struggling Montreal Canadiens (4-7-1) are back in action on Tuesday evening, hosting the Calgary Flames (6-5-1) at Bell Centre in downtown Montreal. The Habs are coming off a 3-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, while the Flames are coming off a 4-2 setback at the hands of their provincial rival Edmonton Oilers.

It's been a difficult recent stretch for the Canadiens, who are at the bottom of the Atlantic Division, something that head coach Martin St. Louis knows that his club must improve upon.

“If we're gonna transition as a team, I have to be in transition as well. It's a big part of this season for me,” St. Louis said after practice Monday at CN Sports Complex. “We're not at the same stage as two years ago, a year ago.” (via Yahoo's Daniel Rainbird.)

Ahead of the matchup between two Canadian rivals, take a look below at what their projected lineups are expected to consist of.

Projected Canadiens lineup

Forwards

• Cole Caufield - Nick Suzuki - Kirby Dach
• Alex Newhook - Jake Evans - Juraj Slafkovsky
• Brendan Gallagher - Christian Dvorak - Josh Anderson
• Emil Heineman - Oliver Kapanen - Joel Armia

The Habs are led in scoring by Cole Caufield, who has 10 goals so far on the season and is one of the top scorers in the NHL. Team captain Nick Suzuki leads with 13 points overall. Brendan Gallagher has four goals on the season, however, no other Canadiens player has more than two.

Defensemen

• Mike Matheson - Kaiden Guhle
• Lane Hutson - David Savard
• Arber Xhekaj - Justin Barron

Mike Matheson leads the way for the Habs on the blue line by averaging 23:10 of ice time per game, while rookie Lane Hutson is second in ice time with an average of 22:56 per game.

Goaltenders

• Sam Montembeault
• Cayden Primeau

Following a historic season-opening shutout by Montembeault over the Toronto Maple Leafs last month, he's been up and down in terms of his numbers. While his performance improved against the Penguins despite the loss, he was coming off a poor performance against the Seattle Kraken, where he was yanked after allowing five goals on ten shots.

Both teams are looking to return to the win column. The Flames began the season by accumulating points in six straight games (a franchise record) while the Habs have lost seven of their last nine outings.

The puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 PM EST and will be available on ESPN+ and Sportsnet.