The Montreal Canadiens (42-21-10) face the Tampa Bay Lightning (46-21-6) on Tuesday night, with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.
This will be the third time these two teams will face each other, with the Lightning having won both the previous matches. Montreal lost 6–1 in early December, and while the Habs offered a much better effort in the next meeting, they still dropped a 5–4 decision in late December.
Simply put, Tampa Bay is the type of team that fits Montreal. As things stand, if the playoffs started today, the Canadiens would face the Buffalo Sabres, but there's also a good chance they would face the Lightning in the first round of the playoffs, depending on how the final stretch of the season unfolds.
Lineup Changes
Jacob Dobbs is set to start against Tampa Bay, and will be aiming to win his fourth game in a row, a continuation of the excellent results that led to him being named the first Star of the Week in the NHL.
As for the rest of the lineup, the Habs announced that defenseman Alex Carrier will miss between two to four weeks due to an upper body injury, which explains why they recalled Adam Engstrom from the Laval Rocket (AHL).
Engstrom, 24, can play on the left or right side, and is clearly Laval's most productive defender. He's also the most NHL-ready player on the farm, and calling up David Rickenbacker would have been interesting, but throwing anyone to the wolves at this point in the NHL season is foolish. Ultimately Rickenbacker's time will come.
That being said, Engstrom is not expected to play on Tuesday. Instead, Arbor Zekaj practiced with Caden Guhle, giving us a pretty good indication of the potential defensive pairing, and ending his one-game experiment as a fourth-line forward.
Montreal Canadiens Projected Lineup
Cole Coffield - Nick Suzuki - Juraj Slafkowski
Alex Newhook - Oliver Kapanen - Ivan Demidov
Zach Bolduc - Jake Evans - Josh Anderson
Joe Veleno - Philip Danault - Brendan Gallagher
Mike Matheson - Noah Dobson
Caden Guhle - Arbor Zekaj*
Jaden Struble- Lane Hutson
jacob dobbs
Tampa Bay Lightning Projected Lineup
Brandon Hagel - Anthony Cirelli - Nikita Kucherov
Gage Goncalves - Brayden Point - Jake Guentzel
Zemgus Girgensons - Yanni Gourde - Pontus Holmberg
Corey Perry - Nick Paul - Oliver Bjorkstrand
Darren Radish - JJ Moser
Ryan McDonagh - Eric Cernak
Emile Lilleberg - Charles-Edouard d'Estous
Andrei Vasilevsky
How to watch Hubs Vs. bolt
Montreal Canadiens vs. Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, to air on RDS and TSN2. A quick recap with highlights will be available on SportsNote once the final whistle blows.
