A win on Tuesday would see Martin St-Louis’ contingent (20-21-8) return to .500 on the season with 32 games remaining on the calendar. The Canadiens and Capitals are set to meet twice in the next 12 days to close out their season series. Cole Caufield gave the Habs a 1-0 edge on the Caps in the opening game of the series at the Bell Centre on Oct. 21 when he beat Darcy Kuemper to clinch a 3-2 overtime win. The teams’ third and final encounter in 2023-24 goes down next Saturday, Feb. 17, in Montreal.
2. The Caps (22-18-7) emerge from their nine-day break looking to snap a four-game losing streak. Prior to the bye week, Washington dropped four straight games on the road as they toured through the Central Division with stops in St. Louis (3-0), Minnesota (5-3), Colorado (6-2) and Dallas (5-4 OT). The Capitals have, however, won four of their last five at home and are 13-7-4 on the season at Capital One Arena. Dylan Strome and Alex Ovechkin are tied for the team lead in points with 31, followed by John Carlson (28), Anthony Mantha (23) and Tom Wilson (21) who round-out the top-five scorers of the Capitals’ 30th ranked offense.
Caps’ defenseman Joel Edmundson is expected to play against his former team for the first time since being traded by the Canadiens on July 1, 2023. Speaking of former Habs, Charlie Lindgren, who played parts of five seasons with the Canadiens early in his career, has seen the majority of the action in the Washington crease as of late, starting six of the team’s last eight contests. The 30-year-old netminder has posted nine wins, two shutouts, a 2.59 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage so far this season.
3. The Canadiens will counter with Samuel Montembeault at the other end of the ice, confirmed head coach St-Louis on Monday. Meanwhile, Brandon Gignac and Lucas Condotta joined the team from the Laval Rocket on Sunday, but their status for tonight’s game is unknown. Alex Newhook is with the team in Washington to continue his rehabilitation but will not play until this weekend at the earliest. Montreal will hold a morning skate at 11:00 a.m. ET ahead of tonight’s matchup. Any changes to the lineup may be known during St-Louis’ pregame press conference. Fans can tune in on the Canadiens’ accounts on YouTube, Facebook and X.
4. Cole Caufield extended his point streak to a career-high nine games with an assist on the Canadiens’ opening goal in Pittsburgh. The 23-year-old’s 12 points (six goals, six assists) dating back to Jan. 11 ties his highest point total in any nine-game span since making his NHL debut four seasons ago. With a goal or an assist on Tuesday, Caufield would become the first Hab to reach a 10-game point streak since Max Domi in 2018.
5. Game time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET. Habs fans can catch the action on TSN2 or RDS, or listen into to play-by-play commentary on TSN 690 or 98.5 fm.
