Marc Dumont
The Montreal Canadiens (37-20-10) will face the Detroit Red Wings (37-23-8) on Thursday night, with the puck drop scheduled for 7 pm ET.
It will be the third and final meeting between these Atlantic Division teams in the regular season, with both teams splitting the two previous match ups. The Canadiens dominated the Red Wings 5-1 in early October, while Detroit returned the favour in January, earning a 4-0 shutout victory.
More importantly, this will be a game that will carry important playoff implications, as Detroit and Montreal are only separated by two points in the Eastern Conference playoff race, though it should be noted the Habs have one game in hand.
As it stands, Montreal’s playoff odds are roughly 85%, while Detroit’s are a touch below 69%. In other words, neither team is comfortable enough to afford a bad outing.
Seeing as Thursday’s game is quite important, the Canadiens have decided to give rookie netminder Jakub Dobes another kick at the can. He was excellent in Montreal’s 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday, stopping 26 of the 28 shots sent his way to secure the victory.
If Dobes wins, he will officially tie Canadiens legend Patrick Roy with 23 victories in his rookie season, quite an accomplishment when we consider he’s had to share his net with two other netminders. For the record, Roy needed 47 games to reach 23 wins, whereas this will be Dobes’ 34th appearance of the season.
Beyond the netminder, head coach Martin St-Louis will have to make some modifications to his forward lines, as Josh Anderson is currently listed as day-to-day (upper-body-injury) and will be forced to miss the game versus the Red Wings.
It remains to be seen who will replace Anderson in the lineup, however, injured forward Patrik Laine is not expected to play. In all likelihood, Joe Veleno, who has not played since early February, will face his the team that drafted him in 2018.
The Red Wings are also dealing with injury issues, as Dylan Larkin, Michael Rasmussen, Andrew Copp, and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard are currently unavailable, tough the latter is approaching a return to play, and could be a late-day addition to Detroit’s roster on Thursday.
Montreal Canadiens Projected Lineup
Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Juraj Slafkovsky
Alex Newhook – Oliver Kapanen – Ivan Demidov
Zach Bolduc – Jake Evans – Alex Texier
Joe Veleno* – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher
Mike Matheson – Noah Dobson
Kaiden Guhle – Alex Carrier
Jayden Struble- Lane Hutson
Jakub Dobes
Detroit Red Wings Projected Lineup
Alex DeBrincat – J.T. Compher – Patrick Kane
David Perron – Emmitt Finnie – Lucas Raymond
John Leonard – Marco Kasper – James van Riemsdyk
Mason Appleton – Sheldon Dries – Dominik Shine
Simon Edvinsson – Moritz Seider
Ben Chiarot – Justin Faulk
Albert Johansson – Jacob Bernard-Docker
John Gibson
How To Watch The Habs Vs. The Red Wings
The Montreal Canadiens versus the Detroit Red Wings, Thursday, March 19, 2026, will be aired on RDS and TSN2. An instant recap complete with highlights will be available on Sportsnaut as soon as the final
