Canadiens at Panthers

CANADIENS (7-22-4) at PANTHERS (20-7-4)

Canadiens projected lineup
Jonathan Drouin -- Nick Suzuki -- Jesse Ylonen
Rafael Harvey-Pinard -- Ryan Poehling -- Cole Caufield
Alex Belzile -- Lukas Vejdemo
Michael Pezzetta -- Cedric Paquette -- Cam Hillis
David Savard
Brett Kulak -- Kale Clague
Sami Niku -- Corey Schueneman
Sam Montembeault
Michael McNiven
Scratched: Louie Belpedio
Injured: Christian Dvorak (lower body), Brendan Gallagher (lower body), Tyler Toffoli (upper body), Josh Anderson (upper body), Joel Edmundson (undisclosed)
COVID-19 protocol: Jake Allen, Cayden Primeau, Ben Chiarot, Jeff Petry, Chris Wideman, Mike Hoffman, Artturi Lehkonen, Laurent Dauphin, Paul Byron, Brandon Baddock, Jake Evans, Alexander Romanov
Panthers projected lineup
Carter Verhaeghe -- Aleksander Barkov -- Anthony Duclair
Jonathan Huberdeau -- Sam Bennett -- Sam Reinhart
Mason Marchment -- Anton Lundell -- Maxim Mamin
Ryan Lomberg -- Eetu Luostarinen -- Patric Hornqvist
MacKenzie Weegar -- Aaron Ekblad
Gustav Forsling -- Radko Gudas
Lucas Carlsson -- Brandon Montour
Sergei Bobrovsky
Jonas Johansson
Scratched: Frank Vatrano, Joe Thornton, Owen Tippett
Injured: Markus Nutivaara (lower body)
COVID-19 protocol: Olli Juolevi
Status report
The Canadiens will dress 11 forwards and five defensemen. ... Drouin is expected to play after missing the Canadiens' 4-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday because of a non-COVID illness. … Gallager did not practice Friday after being injured in the loss at Carolina and will not play. ... Hillis will make his NHL debut . … Evans, a center, and Romanov, a forward, each was placed in COVID-19 protocol Saturday. ... Baddock, a forward, was placed in COVID-19 protocol Friday. … The Panthers did not practice Friday. … Bennett is expected to play after missing a 9-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday because of a non-COVID illness. ... Florida loaned goalie Spencer Knight to the taxi squad Friday.