Canadiens at Maple Leafs preview

CANADIENS (0-0-0) at MAPLE LEAFS (0-0-0)
7 p.m. ET; SN, RDS, NHL.TV

The Game

Center John Tavares will play his first game with the Toronto Maple Leafs when they open the season against the Montreal Canadiens at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.
Tavares signed a seven-year, $77 million contract with the Maple Leafs as an unrestricted free agent July 1 after playing his first nine NHL seasons with the New York Islanders, who selected him No. 1 in the 2009 NHL Draft.
Center Jesperi Kotkaniemi, chosen No. 3 in the 2018 NHL Draft, will make his NHL debut with the Canadiens. At 18 years, 89 days (born July 6, 2000), he will become the third-youngest player to debut for the Canadiens and the first player born in the 2000s to play in the NHL.

Players to watch

Max Domi will make his regular-season debut with the Canadiens after being acquired in a trade from the Arizona Coyotes for forward Alex Galchenyuk on June 15. The 23-year-old forward was suspended for Montreal's final five preseason games for roughing Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad on Sept. 19.
Tavares averaged more than a point per game for the third time in his NHL career last season, when he had 84 points (37 goals, 47 assists) in 82 games. He has 621 points (272 goals, 349 assists) in 669 NHL games.

They said it

"Every game he's played, you've left feeling like that was probably his best game and the next game he shows up and does it again. That's pretty impressive from a young kid his age." -- Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher on Kotkaniemi
"Since I've signed, you think about what it will be like and to finally experience it is going to be nice. To start every season I have butterflies. It's exciting to get back into the swing of things and wanting it to start off on the right foot." -- Maple Leafs center John Tavares

Canadiens projected lineup

Tomas Tatar -- Phillip Danault -- Brendan Gallagher
Jonathan Drouin -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Joel Armia
Paul Byron -- Max Domi -- Artturi Lehkonen
Charles Hudon -- Matthew Peca -- Andrew Shaw
Mike Reilly -- Jeff Petry
Victor Mete -- Noah Juulsen
Jordie Benn --
Xavier Ouellet
Carey Price
Antti Niemi
Scratched: Tomas Plekanec, Nikita Scherbak, Karl Alzner
Injured:Nicolas Deslauriers (facial fracture), Jacob de la Rose (cardiac), Shea Weber (knee), David Schlemko (knee)

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Patrick Marleau -- Auston Matthews --
Tyler Ennis
Zach Hyman -- John Tavares -- Mitchell Marner
Josh Leivo -- Nazem Kadri -- Connor Brown
Andreas Johnsson
--
Par Lindholm
-- Kasperi Kapanen
Morgan Rielly -- Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner -- Nikita Zaitsev
Travis Dermott
--
Igor Ozhiganov
Frederik Andersen
Garret Sparks
Scratched:
Frederik Gauthier
,
Martin Marincin
,
Justin Holl
Injured:None

Status report

Weber was named the 30th captain of the Canadiens on Monday but is expected to be out until early December. ... Alzner's consecutive games streak will end at 622. The last time he missed a regular-season game was April 11, 2010.

Stat pack

The Canadiens are 4-0-0 in their past four season openers. … Andersen was 3-0-0 with a 1.66 goals-against average and .950 save percentage against Montreal last season. Marleau has 10 goals in season openers, the most among active NHL players.