The Montreal Canadiens will face the Chicago Blackhawks for the last time this season at the Bell Centre tonight, and they'll try to sweep the season series.
After an underwhelming 4-1 defeat against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night, the Montreal Canadiens will be hosting the Chicago Blackhawks at the Bell Centre on Thursday night. It will be the second and last meeting between the two sides this season. The last time they met, in Chicago on October 11, the Habs banked the two points with a 3-2 win, getting 10 power-play opportunities and scoring twice on the man-advantage. Captain Nick Suzuki registered an assist on each of Montreal’s three goals, and it was a rare good performance from Samuel Montembeault this season, making 20 saves on 22 shots for a .909 save percentage.
As the Canadiens are getting ready to host the Hawks, the netminder is in Ohio getting ready to backstop the Laval Rocket in their game against the Cleveland Monsters, the first of two starts he’ll get in the AHL, in the hope of finding his confidence back.
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Meanwhile, the Habs starter tonight hasn’t been confirmed since Martin St-Louis didn’t speak to the media yesterday after the optional skate. Still, Jakub Dobes should be back in the net after Jacob Fowler was defeated on Tuesday night. Neither of the Canadiens’ rookie netminders has ever faced tonight’s foe, so whoever is in net will start with a clean slate.
As for Chicago’s starter, it hasn’t been confirmed yet, but Spencer Knight and Arvid Soderblom have both faced the Canadiens three times in their career. The former has a 1-2-0 record with a 3.35 goals-against average and a .881 save percentage, while the latter is 2-0-1 with a 2.21 GAA and a .917 SV. Knight has seen the lion’s share of the action this season with 23 games, while Soderblom has only gotten 10. The 24-year-old goaltender was drafted 13th overall by the Florida Panthers in 2019 and is finally establishing himself as the number one netminder in Chicago after being acquired in the Seth Jones trade.
Up front, the Canadiens won’t have to worry about Connor Bedard, the Hawks’ franchise player, he suffered a shoulder injury last week and won’t be back for a while. As for captain Nick Foligno, he hasn’t played since November 15th, but he has accompanied the Hawks on the current road trip and could return. Montreal will want to keep an eye on Teuvo Teravainen, who has 24 goals in 25 games, Tyler Bertuzzi, who has 15 points in 23 tilts and Ilya Mikheyev, who has 12 points in 22 matches. It’s worth noting that Frank Nazar also has four points in just three duels with the Habs. The center was drafted by the Hawks at the 2022 draft with the pick Montreal sent Chicago in the Kirby Dach trade.
As for the Canadiens, none of their players have reached double digits against the Hawks yet, aside from Patrik Laine, who has 18 points in 30 duels, but the big Finn is still sidelined with an injury. It means that Mike Matheson is the Habs’ top scorer against Chicago with eight points in 16 games. Still, his presence tonight is questionable as he’s currently dealing with an upper-body injury and is being reevaluated daily. The Habs have a morning skate at 10:30 today, and we should know more about the lineup once Martin St-Louis has spoken to the media. Cole Caufield (seven points in eight games) and Nick Suzuki (seven points in 10 games) round up the top three. Alexandre Texier will aim to keep his four-game point streak going (three goals and one assist).
Each team has won five of the last 10 duels between them, but the Hawks swept the season series in 2024-25 with 4-2 and 4-3 (SO) wins. With a win tonight, the Canadiens would do the same with this season’s series.
Tonight will be the Habs’ second-to-last game of the year at the Bell Center as they’ll take on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night before hitting the road for two games before the Christmas break, and they’ll head on their traditional Florida trip over the holidays. The game is set for 7:00 PM, and you can catch it on RDS, TSN2, and CHSN.
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