The Montreal Canadiens released their lineup for tonight’s game at the Bell Centre against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Voici l’alignement pour le match de ce soir contre les Maple Leafs de Toronto. The lineup for tonight’s game against the Maple Leafs. #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/n4qpBoyyIi — Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) September 26, 2018 Jesperi Kotkaniemi will get another long look, and with Jonathan Drouin drawing back in the lineup, you can expect Kotkaniemi to play with Drouin. The Canadiens second line of Phillip Danault, Brendan Gallagher and Tomas Tatar will also come back into the lineup as the Canadiens are looking to put together their NHL roster. It also looks like an NHL defence tonight as Jeff Petry, Victor Mete, Noah Juulsen, Jordie Benn, Mike Reilly and David Schlemko make up the blue line tonight. It is an opportunity for Benn and Schlemko to fight back against the emergence of Xavier Ouellet. Karl Alzner is listed above, but will not play tonight. #Habs vs #Leafs: Drouin - Kotkaniemi - Lehkoenn Tatar - Danault - Gallagher Agostino - Plekanec - Byron Chaput - De La Rose - Scherbak Reilly - Petry Benn - Schlemko Mete - Juulsen Price Lindgren — John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) September 26, 2018 Up front, Kenny Agostino and Michael Chaput get a chance to claim a spot on the opening night roster as does Jacob de la Rose. Carey Price will likely play the whole game as Charlie Lindgren backs him up. We will have a full game thread later today.<doc-sep>The Toronto Maple Leafs go into tonight having played half of their eight pre-season games. Tonight and tomorrow they split a home and home vs the Montreal Canadiens, with tonight taking place in Toronto. Lines: Here’s the roster, you’ll notice this seems to be the “B” team full of likely AHLers or camp cuts back to their junior teams. The @MapleLeafs have announced the roster for Monday night’s pre-season game vs. Montreal at @ScotiabankArena. pic.twitter.com/rFOM6zQj1M — Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) September 24, 2018 Here’s what the likely lines will be: #Leafs lines at morning skate (vs. Montreal tonight): Johnsson-Lindholm-Kapanen Grundstrom-Brooks-Bracco Greening-Jooris-Engvall Timashov-Cracknell-T.Moore Borgman-Holl Marincin-Carrick Sandin-Subban McElhinney Sparks — Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) September 24, 2018 The first powerplay looks like this: Subban Brooks-Moore-Bracco Grundstrom The Canadiens have sent a roster of similar level, with a few more NHLers in it, and some players battling for spots. This is the time for Lindholm, Johnsson and Kapanen to show what they have. No one expects them to look like the Matthews line, but they need to look like the grownups on the Leafs tonight, not the guys with potential.<doc-sep>On Monday, the Toronto Maple Leafs decided to treat their home crowd to an exhibition of the replacement-level players in the organization. The Montreal Canadiens countered with a few NHLers sprinkled among the bubble players, and Artturi Lehkonen and Charles Hudon performed as they would be expected to in such a contest, scoring three of the game’s six total goals in a 5-1 win. For the game at the Bell Centre tonight, the Leafs have brought all of their star players together (at least those not the subject of trade talks) for the first time as they get set to solidify the roster. Lines will be centred by Auston Matthews and Nazem Kadri, as well as the top free-agent signee from the off-season, John Tavares, who will probably be given a very warm welcome by the Canadiens’ faithful. Montreal will also be dressing most of its players who will be on the ice when these two teams meet on opening night one week from now. The forwards have been performing very well so far in the pre-season, and it will be interesting to see how they are able to perform against a lineup with All-Stars pivoting the top two lines. The one to watch will be Jesperi Kotkaniemi, as he plays his fifth tune-up game and looks to hold his own versus what could be the top offensive club in the league this season. Puck drop is at 7:30 PM EDT / 4:30 PM PDT How to watch In the Canadiens region: TSN2, TSN Direct (English) RDS, RDS Direct (French) In the Leafs region: TSN4, TSN Direct (English) In the US: NHL Network Elsewhere: NHL.tv/Rogers NHL Live Montreal Canadiens projected lineup Forwards Left Wing Centre Right Wing Left Wing Centre Right Wing #90 Tomas Tatar #24 Phillip Danault #11 Brendan Gallagher #92 Jonathan Drouin #15 Jesperi Kotkaniemi #62 Artturi Lehkonen #47 Kenny Agostino #14 Tomas Plekanec #41 Paul Byron #43 Michael Chaput #25 Jacob de la Rose #38 Nikita Scherbak Defencemen Left Defence Right Defence Left Defence Right Defence #28 Mikey Reilly #26 Jeff Petry #53 Victor Mete #58 Noah Juulsen #8 Jordie Benn #21 David Schlemko Goaltenders Goaltenders Goaltenders #31 Carey Price #39 Charlie Lindgren Toronto Maple Leafs projected lineup Forwards Left Wing Centre Right Wing Left Wing Centre Right Wing Patrick Marleau Auston Matthews Tyler Ennis Trevor Moore John Tavares Mitch Marner Josh Leivo Nazem Kadri Connor Brown Andreas Johnsson Par Lindholm Kasperi Kapanen Defencemen Left Defence Right Defence Left Defence Right Defence Morgan Rielly Ron Hainsey Jake Gardiner Nikita Zaitsev Calle Rosen Igor Ozhiganov<doc-sep>Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Nick Suzuki are back in the lineup for the Montreal Canadiens as they face the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight at Scotiabank Arena. Here is the full lineup: Voici l’alignement des Canadiens pour le match de ce soir contre les Maple Leafs à Toronto. Here is the Canadiens' lineup for tonight's game against the Maple Leafs in Toronto. #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/hWRIxbwk3C — Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) September 24, 2018 This seems to be an audition for several players. Matthew Peca, Michael Chaput, Hunter Shinkaruk, Kenny Agostino, Jacob de la Rose, and Byron Froese are all battling for the few forward spots that remain. This could be some of their last games before the Canadiens need to make decisions on waivers. On defence, Karl Alzner and Xavier Ouellet lead the way. Rinat Valiev, Michal Moravčik, Brett Lernout and Simon Desprès are also battling out for a roster spot as this game will provide a look at most defencemen battling for a spot. The Canadiens have three games remaining after tonight, and have yet to place any players on waivers. The team still has 43 players at their NHL camp. We will have a full game thread later today.<doc-sep>
The Montreal Canadiens travel to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs tonight. It will be their second game away from the Bell Centre this pre-season, but the first in which they won’t be granted the last change. With training camp beginning for the Laval Rocket, most of the waiver-exempt players are now battling for AHL spots, leaving the more veteran players to battle for any remaining spots on the Canadiens roster. Tonight will see the return of Artturi Lehkonen, Charles Hudon, and many of the players left on the sidelines for Saturday’s comeback win over the Ottawa Senators. It seems the Leafs have decided to use this evening’s game as their first AHL exhibition match, dressing many of the players who will eventually make their way to the Marlies, and very few who will be on the opening-night roster just over a week from now. It does set up the potential for a nearly full lineup when the Leafs travel to Montreal in two days’ time. For now, fans in Toronto will have to settle for a preview of the team that will attempt to defend the Calder Cup, while the Canadiens on the bubble for spots will have to ensure they don’t take this competition lightly. Puck drop is at 7:30 PM EDT / 4:30 PM PDT How to watch In the Canadiens region: TSN2, TSN Direct (English) RDS, RDS Direct (French) In the Leafs region: TSN4, TSN Direct (English) Elsewhere: NHL.tv/Rogers NHL Live Montreal Canadiens projected lineup Forwards Left Wing Centre Right Wing Left Wing Centre Right Wing #54 Charles Hudon #63 Matthew Peca #62 Artturi Lehkonen #43 Michael Chaput #15 Jesperi Kotkaniemi #40 Joel Armia #25 Jacob de la Rose #88 Nick Suzuki #38 Nikita Scherbak #45 Hunter Shinkaruk #42 Byron Froese #47 Kenny Agostino Defencemen Left Defence Right Defence Left Defence Right Defence #27 Karl Alzner #32 Simon Desprès #61 Xavier Ouellet #36 Brett Lernout #17 Rinat Valiev #73 Michal Moravčík Goaltenders Goaltenders Goaltenders #37 Antti Niemi #39 Charlie Lindgren Toronto Maple Leafs projected lineup Forwards Left Wing Centre Right Wing Left Wing Centre Right Wing Andreas Johnsson Par Lindholm Jeremy Bracco Dmytro Timashov Josh Jooris Kasperi Kapanen Colin Greening Adam Brooks Adam Cracknell Carl Grundstrom Trevor Moore Pierre Engvall Defencemen Left Defence Right Defence Left Defence Right Defence Martin Marincin Connor Carrick Andreas Borgman Justin Holl Rasmus Sandin Jordan Subban