NBCSN’s coverage of the 2020-21 NHL season continues with Thursday’s matchup between the Montreal Canadiens and Vancouver Canucks. Coverage begins at 9:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.
Last night, the Canucks defeated the Canadiens 6-5 (SO) in what was a wild back-and-forth contest. Vancouver held leads of 1-0, 2-1, 3-2, and 4-3 but Montreal tied the score each time before the Habs took a 5-4 lead with less then four minutes to go. Then in was Vancouver’s turn to rally, as they tied the score less than a minute later to force overtime, where they eventually won in the shootout to snap a three-game losing streak.
The game yesterday marked Tyler Toffoli’s first appearance against Vancouver since he left the Canucks in free agency. After just one assist over his first three games with the Habs, Toffoli tallied his fourth career hat trick in the loss.
A big story behind Vancouver’s 1-3-0 start was their futility on the power play. They entered last night’s game 0-for-15 with the extra man, but went 3-for-6 on the man advantage yesterday.
Elias Pettersson was kept off the score sheet last night and has just one assist in five games this season. That assist came in the season opener, so he enters tonight on a four-game point drought. He never went more than two straight games without a point all last season.
[COVERAGE BEGINS AT 9:30 P.M. ET ON NBCSN]
WHAT: Montreal Canadiens at Vancouver Canucks
WHERE: Rogers Arena
WHEN: Thursday, Jan. 21, 9:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
ON THE CALL: John Walton, Pierre McGuire
LIVE STREAM: You can watch the Canadiens-Canucks stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
CANADIENS
Tomas Tatar - Phillip Danault - Brendan Gallagher
Jonathan Drouin - Nick Suzuki - Josh Anderson
Tyler Toffoli - Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Joel Armia
Artturi Lehkonen - Jake Evans - Paul Byron
Ben Chiarot - Shea Weber
Joel Edmundson - Jeff Petry
Brett Kulak - Alexander Romanov
Starting goalie: Jake Allen
CANUCKS
J.T. Miller - Elias Pettersson - Brock Boeser
Tanner Pearson - Bo Horvat - Nils Hoglander
Antoine Roussel - Adam Gaudette - Jake Virtanen
Tyler Motte - Jay Beagle - Brandon Sutter
Nate Schmidt - Tyler Myers
Alex Edler - Jalen Chatfield
Quinn Hughes - Travis Hamonic
Starting goalie: Thatcher Demko