Canadiens' Sam Montembeault: Starting versus Senators
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Montembeault will protect the home goal versus the Senators on Saturday, per TSN 1200 Ottawa.
Montembeault earned a 48-save shutout in his season debut Wednesday versus the Maple Leafs. He'll look to keep things going against another Atlantic Division rival in his second start of the year. If the Canadiens struggle offensively again this season, Montembeault must be excellent to keep the team competitive.
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Canadiens' Jayden Struble: Not playing Saturday
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Struble (upper body) won't play Saturday against Ottawa.
Struble participated in Saturday's morning skate but will miss his third straight contest. Once healthy, he will be the seventh defender for Montreal's blue line.
Evans notched an assist in Thursday's 6-4 loss to the Bruins.
Evans set up the second of Brendan Gallagher's tallies in the contest. The 28-year-old Evans is once again playing in a bottom-six role to begin 2024-25. He has one shot on net, two hits and one blocked shot in addition to his assist through two contests. Evans has narrowly missed the 30-point mark in two of the previous three seasons, but that's not enough to make him an option in standard fantasy formats.
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Canadiens' Oliver Kapanen: Enters lineup, posts assist
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Kapanen had one assist and one shot on net in Thursday's 6-4 loss to Boston.
Kapanen, who was a healthy scratch in Wednesday's season opener, replaced Emil Heineman on the fourth line. The assist was the first NHL point for the 21-year-old Kapanen, who played the last two years in his native Sweden. He may bounce between Montreal and AHL Laval this season.
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Canadiens' Josh Anderson: Pockets first goal
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Anderson scored a goal on two shots and had four hits in Thursday's 6-4 loss to the Bruins.
Anderson changed the trajectory of a Kaiden Guhle shot from the point midway through the third period to make it a 5-3 score. It's a positive sign for the forward to have scored this early in the season; Anderson did not find the back of the net until the 24th game last year and scored just nine times (6.4 shooting percentage) over 78 games.
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Canadiens' Cole Caufield: Strikes again
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Caufield scored a goal on three shots and picked up two penalty minutes in Thursday's 6-4 loss to Boston.
Caufield scored his second goal in as many games when he found an unattended spot near the goal and finished a feed from Kaiden Guhle. Montreal's shot leader (314) in 2023-24 has seven SOG through two games and should see ample shooting opportunities while skating on the top line and first power-play unit.
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Canadiens' Lane Hutson: Shows off offense in loss
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Hutson recorded two assists, one on the power play, one shot, two blocks and two penalty minutes in Thursday's 6-4 loss to Boston.
Hutson showed off his offensive potential with two first-period assists. He now has four points in four career NHL games. The rookie is averaging more than 20 minutes per game, including 6:42 on the power play.
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Canadiens' Kaiden Guhle: Helps twice in loss
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Guhle had two assists, two hits, three blocked shots and finished plus-3 in Thursday's 6-4 loss to the Bruins.
Guhle picked up a pair of primary helpers for his first points of the season. He spotted Cole Caufield alone near the net that resulted in Montreal's second goal of the first period and later his shot from the point was tipped home by Josh Anderson. Guhle usually doesn't bring much offense to the fantasy game.
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Canadiens' Joel Armia: Logs two helpers in loss
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Armia recorded two assists, one on the power play, two shots, one hit and two penalty minutes in Thursday's 6-4 loss to Boston.
Armia had a hand in both of Brendan Gallagher's goals. He's never delivered on the promise of being a first-round draft pick in 2011, but Armia is coming off a career-high 17-goal season and has been handed a top-six role while skating on the second power-play unit to open the season.
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Canadiens' Brendan Gallagher: Scores twice in loss
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Gallagher had four shots on net and scored twice, once on the power play, in Thursday's 6-4 loss to Boston.
Gallagher got the scoring started early when he redirected a feed from Joel Armia past Jeremy Swayman in the first period. The savvy winger later found a soft spot in Boston's defense and finished off a pass from Jake Evans to make it a 5-4 game late in the third period. The 13-year veteran is looking to build off a resurgent 2023-24 season, when he scored 16 goals in mostly a third-line role and played his most games (77) since the 2018 season. Gallagher is skating on the third line and second power-play unit to start the season.
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Canadiens' Cayden Primeau: Allows six goals in loss
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Primeau stopped 23 of 29 shots in Montreal's 6-4 loss to the Boston on Thursday.
Primeau faced a team motivated to turn the page on a poor effort in Tuesday's loss to Florida, and that showed in the first period when Boston put 13 shots on net and scored three times. The Bruins scored two more in the second and entered the third period with a 5-2 lead. However, Montreal didn't play like a team on the second night of a back-to-back and made it close before Primeau allowed a softie late.
Struble (upper body) isn't in the lineup for Thursday's game against Boston, per the NHL media site.
This is Struble's second straight game on the shelf. He had three goals, 10 points, 57 PIM, 121 hits and 53 blocks in 56 contests with Montreal in 2023-24. Struble isn't guaranteed to consistently play even when healthy.
Dach registered a power-play assist and three hits in Wednesday's 1-0 win over the Maple Leafs.
Dach was limited to two games last season after tearing his right ACL and MCL in his knee. While still just 23, he's been limited to 130 games out of a possible 246 over the last three years, though he has 66 points in that span. As long as he can stay healthy, he has upside as the Canadiens' second-line center, and his potential is further heightened by his spot on the top power-play unit.
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Canadiens' Cayden Primeau: Starting against Boston
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Primeau is starting Thursday's road game against the Bruins.
Sam Montembeault drew the start in Wednesday's Opening Night matchup against the Maple Leafs and turned aside 48 shots in the 1-0 win. Primeau made 23 regular-season appearances for Montreal last year and recorded an 8-9-4 record, 2.99 GAA and .910 save percentage.
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Canadiens' Cole Caufield: Pots only goal in Wednesday's win
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Caufield scored the game-winning goal on the power play in Wednesday's 1-0 win over the Maple Leafs.
The 23-year-old wired a one-timer past Anthony Stolarz midway through the first period, and it was all the offense Sam Montembeault would end up needing. Caufield played a full 82-game schedule for the first time in 2023-24, but a decline in his shooting to 8.9 percent meant he only managed 28 goals, still a career high. More puck luck in 2024-25 should lead to Caufield's first 30-goal campaign, and he has the talent to reach an even higher plateau.
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Canadiens' Sam Montembeault: Dazzles in season opener
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Montembeault turned aside 48 shots in Wednesday's 1-0 win over the Maple Leafs.
Toronto fired at least 13 shots at Monty in every period, but the 27-year-old shone in the spotlight of Montreal's season opener and completely shut down Auston Matthews and company for his second career shutout. Montembeault has never posted a GAA below 3.00 in the NHL, so while he's locked in as the No. 1 netminder for the Canadiens, nights like this are likely to be few and far between without a significant improvement by the defense in front of him.
