PANTHERS (37-37-3) at CANADIENS (45-22-10)
7 p.m. ET; RDS, TSN2, SCRIPPS
Panthers projected lineup
Carter Verhaeghe -- Sam Bennett -- Mackie Samoskevich
Jesper Boqvist -- Eetu Luostarinen -- A.J. Greer
Cole Schwindt -- Tomas Nosek -- Noah Gregor
Cole Reinhardt -- Luke Kunin -- Vinnie Hinostroza
Gustav Forsling -- Seth Jones
Donovan Sebrango -- Mike Benning
Tobias Bjornfot -- Mikulas Hovorka
Daniil Tarasov
Sergei Bobrovsky
Scratched: Nolan Foote, Matthew Tkachuk
Injured: Aaron Ekblad (hand), Dmitry Kulikov (broken nose), Evan Rodrigues (finger), Sam Reinhart (foot), Niko Mikkola (knee), Anton Lundell (ribs), Uvis Balinskis (fractured foot), Brad Marchand (lower body), Aleksander Barkov (knee), Jonah Gadjovich (upper body)
Canadiens projected lineup
Cole Caufield -- Nick Suzuki -- Juraj Slafkovsky
Alex Newhook -- Oliver Kapanen -- Ivan Demidov
Zachary Bolduc -- Jake Evans -- Kirby Dach
Alexandre Texier -- Phillip Danault -- Josh Anderson
Mike Matheson -- Noah Dobson
Jayden Struble -- Lane Hutson
Kaiden Guhle -- Arber Xhekaj
Jakub Dobes
Jacob Fowler
Scratched: Brendan Gallagher, Samuel Montembeault, Adam Engstrom
Injured: Joe Veleno (undisclosed), Alexander Carrier (upper body), Patrik Laine (lower body)
Status report
Tkachuk, a forward, has returned to Florida to be with his wife for the birth of their first child. … Ekblad took part in the Panthers morning skate, but the defenseman will miss his fourth straight game. ... Dach and Texier each has been cleared and could return; Dach has missed 11 games with an upper-body injury and Texier has missed seven with a lower-body injury. ... Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis does not discuss his lineup prior to the game. … Gallagher, a forward, remained on the ice for extra work after the morning skate. ... Veleno did not take part in the morning skate and there was no update on his condition; the forward played 10:06 in a 4-3 shootout win at the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.
