Canadiens at Hurricanes

CANADIENS (18-38-11) at HURRICANES (44-15-8)

Canadiens projected lineup
Cole Caufield -- Nick Suzuki -- Joel Armia
Mike Hoffman -- Rem Pitlick -- Josh Anderson
Paul Byron -- Christian Dvorak -- Laurent Dauphin
Tyler Pitlick -- Jake Evans -- Jesse Ylonen
Alexander Romanov -- David Savard
Joel Edmundson -- Chris Wideman
Justin Barron -- Corey Schueneman
Jake Allen
Sam Montembeault
Scratched: Jordan Harris, Mathieu Perreault, William Lagesson
Injured: Jeff Petry (lower body), Jonathan Drouin (wrist), Brendan Gallagher (lower body), Carey Price (knee), Kale Clague (upper body), Ryan Poehling (upper body), Michael Pezzetta (upper body)
Hurricanes projected lineup
Teuvo Teravainen -- Sebastian Aho -- Seth Jarvis
Max Domi -- Vincent Trocheck -- Andrei Svechnikov
Nino Niederreiter -- Jordan Staal -- Jesper Fast
Jordan Martinook -- Derek Stepan - Martin Necas
Jaccob Slavin -- Tony DeAngelo
Brady Skjei -- Brett Pesce
Brendan Smith -- Ian Cole
Frederik Andersen
Antti Raanta
Scratched: Steven Lorentz
Injured: Ethan Bear (lower body), Jesperi Kotkaniemi (lower body)
Status report
The Canadiens held an optional morning skate Thursday. ... Tyler Pitlick will return after missing two games with an upper-body injury. ... Evans, who did not practice on Wednesday, will play; he left a 7-4 loss at the Florida Panthers on Tuesday after crashing into the boards following a shorthanded breakaway attempt. … Martinook will return after missing seven games with a lower-body injury. ... Kotkaniemi, a center, is out 2-3 weeks after being injured on a check by Washington Capitals center Lars Eller late in the third period of a 6-1 win Monday.