Montreal Canadiens forward Christian Dvorak is expected to return to the lineup when his team hosts the Philadelphia Flyers at the Bell Centre.
GAME DAY PREVIEW | Montreal Canadiens (29-36-12) vs Philadelphia Flyers (36-31-11)
Game Preview
Roster News
The Canadiens announced that Arber Xhekaj will undergo season-ending surgery to repair his left shoulder on Wednesday. Xhekaj He is expected to be ready to start the new season.
Christian Dvorak will return to the lineup tonight. Dvorak had surgery on January 5th to repair a torn pectoral muscle. He was originally expected to miss the remainder of the season.
Sam Montembeault (15-15-7 / 3.10 GAA / .904 SV% / 0 SO) is the confirmed starter for Montreal.
Last Game
Despite being outplayed, the Canadiens went toe-to-toe with the league's best team for the first 40 minutes.
Last game: MTL 2 vs NYR 5 | F
Players to Watch
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Matchup for Game 78, Home Game 40
Bell Centre, Montreal, QC. | April 9, 7:00 PM ET | TV: TSN2, RDS, NBCSP, ESPN
Pre-Game
Christian Dvorak - "It's been a lot of rehab the past calendar year. I just want to get some games in, stay healthy, just work on my game, and get a little momentum heading into the summer.”
Canadiens Connection on YouTube
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV0788uEhLc[/embed]
Looking for the Apple Podcasts link? Click here!
Projected Canadiens Lineup (subject to change)
Forwards
22 Cole Caufield - 14 Nick Suzuki - 20 Juraj Slafkovsky
11 Brendan Gallagher - 15 Alex Newhook - 40 Joel Armia
70 Tanner Pearson - 71 Jake Evans - 17 Josh Anderson
55 Michael Pezzetta - 28 Christian Dvorak - 49 Rafael Harvey-Pinard
Defensemen
8 Mike Matheson - 58 David Savard
54 Jordan Harris - 26 Johnathan Kovacevic
47 Jayden Struble - 52 Justin Barron
Goaltenders
Starter: 35 Sam Montembeault
Alternate: 30 Cayden Primeau
Out of the lineup
Scratches: Jesse Ylonen, Colin White
Injuries: Carey Price (knee), Chris Wideman (back), Kirby Dach (knee), Joshua Roy (hand), Arber Xhekaj (upper body), Kaiden Guhle (upper body)
Visiting Bench
This is the final meeting of three games between these two teams. Each team has won one contest. On March 28th, the Canadiens beat Philadelphia 4-1.
Sean Couturier has 20 points in 30 career games against the Canadiens.
The Flyers have struggled in their last 10 games posting a record of 2-5-3.
Philadelphia leads the NHL with 15 shorthanded goals. The Canadiens have gioven up the most shorthanded goals in the league.
The Flyers like to shoot the puck. They are third in the league with a 33.3 shot-per-game average.
Samuel Ersson (21-17-7 / 2.88 GAA / .889 SV% / 3 SO) is the confirmed starter for the Flyers.
Game Expectations
This is the second last home date on the Canadiens regular season schedule. They will return to the Bell Centre one week from tonight to host the Detroit Red Wings for the final game of the season.
Be sure to bookmark THN.com/Montreal for year-round coverage of the Montreal Canadiens, Laval Rocket, and Habs prospects playing in leagues around the world.
