Tonight is the night Max Pacioretty has been waiting for since Sept. 9. That’s the night the Canadiens traded him to the Golden Knights, and tonight’s the night he’ll return to Montreal to face his former team for the first time in his career.
It’s also a night Tomas Tatar has had circled on his calendar since that same night in September, as he was part of the package Vegas gave up to acquire Pacioretty. Tatar has gotten off to a great start to the season, scoring six goals and 14 points in 16 games.
Marc-Andre Fleury and the Knights will look to make it two wins in a row after picking up a 5-3 win against Ottawa the other night. Vegas (7-8-1) has a chance to reach .500 with a win tonight. Antti Niemi will man the crease for Montreal (8-5-3) as the Habs look to bounce back from a 6-5 overtime loss to the Sabres.
Here are the projected lineups for both clubs:
Golden Knights
Marchessault — Karlsson — Smith
Pacioretty — Eakin — Tuch
Nosek — Carpenter — Hyka
Carrier — Bellemare — Reaves
Miller — McNabb
Theodore — Holdn
Merrill — Hunt
Fleury
Subban
Canadiens
Tatar — Phillip Danault — Brendan Gallagher
Jonathan Drouin — Max Domi — Andrew Shaw
Kenny Agostino — Jesperi Kotkaniemi — Artturi Lehkonen
Nicolas Deslauriers — Matthew Peca — Charles Hudon
Jordie Benn — Jeff Petry
Karl Alzner — Mike Reilly
Xavier Ouellet — Victor Mete
Niemi
Carey Price
Let’s discuss!