The Chicago Blackhawks are going to take on the Montreal Canadiens in game number 34 of the season on Thursday night at Bell Centre.
This is the second of two meetings between these two Original Six rivals. The first was Chicago’s home opener back on October 11th. The Canadiens won that game 3-2.
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Scouting Montreal
The Montreal Canadiens are 17-12-4. Things have slipped a bit for them since their impressive start, but they are still in the mix for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. If the season ended today, they would not make it. However, a win over Chicago could put them above the line for the time being.
Jakub Dobes will start in goal for the Montreal Canadiens. In front of him, the team is expected to line up like this:
Caufield – Suzuki – Bolduc
Slafkovsky – Kapanen – Demidov
Texier -Beck – Anderson
Veleno -Evans – Gallagher
Hutson – Carrier
Struble – Dobson
Xhekaj – Engstrom
Dobes
There are some great forwards on this team, even without former Blackhawk Kirby Dach available. Nick Suzuki is a top-20 NHL center, while Cole Caufield is one of the best pure goal scorers around.
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Ivan Demidov, who Blackhawks fans who followed the draft in 2024 know well, is also a difference maker and a threat to score on every shift he takes. This group up front has some depth to it.
On defense, Lane Hutson is the guy that everything runs through offensively. Noah Dobson is also a difference-making, highly paid player who impacts games. All around, this is a team that could break out at any time because they have so much talent and a solid coach in Marty St. Louis.
Projected Lines, Defense Pairs, & Goalie For Chicago
The Chicago Blackhawks are without Connor Bedard, who won’t be back until after the first of the year. He is on the trip with the team, but it’s strictly for the camaraderie with his younger teammates.
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If it were up to Bedard, he’d already be back, but the Hawks are being cautious with their superstar. Without him, expect a lineup that looks something like this:
Bertuzzi – Nazar – Burakovsky
Moore – Greene – Lardis
Teravainen – Dickinson – Mikheyev
Dach – Toninato – Donato
Vlasic – Crevier
Grzelcyk – Levshunov
Kaiser – Murphy
Knight
This will be another start for Spencer Knight, who had a terrible fate in their last game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Knight and the Hawks looked like they were going to pick up a huge win, but the Leafs scored three unanswered goals in the final ten minutes to pull out with a win.
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In Bedard’s spot on the top line, Frank Nazar will play center. Tyler Bertuzzi and Andre Burakovsky are good wingers for Nazar, who is looking to break a long goal drought. He’s playing the right way, but the bounces haven’t gone his way in a while. If he sticks to his process, the offense will soon return.
Dominic Toninato and Nick Lardis are expected to play again. Lardis has fit in well through his first two NHL games after a dominating start to the year with the Rockford IceHogs. Now that he’s got the nerves of his first game in the NHL and first game in front of his hometown friends and family out of the way, he can just play hockey. It won’t be long before his offense arrives.
Levshunov will return to the NHL lineup after being scratched against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday. The 2024 second overall pick missed the game due to being late for practice. He has been one of the best skaters on this team for a while now, so getting him back is a nice boost.
Original Six
When this game is over, the Blackhawks will have played against four of the five other Original Six teams in a span of 9 days. They are just 1-2 (win vs New York Rangers, losses to Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs) so far, so they’d prefer to even it up with a win here in Montreal.
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After this, they won’t see another Original Six rival until January 17th when the Boston Bruins visit the United Center.
How To Watch
The game can be heard on AM 720 WGN in the Chicagoland area. To view this game, it can be found locally on CHSN. It can be streamed nationally on ESPN+. The puck will drop shortly after 6:00 PM CT.
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