Panthers GameDay v Canadiens: How to Watch, Lines, Goalies, Odds

A night after rallying in the third period to beat the Washington Capitals, the Florida Panthers are back at it in Sunrise tonight against the Montreal Canadiens.

Although many had hoped to see Jacob Fowler — the first Florida-born goalie in NHL history — to start, it will instead by former Panthers Sam Montembeault going for the Canadiens.

The Canadiens rolled into town coming off an overtime loss in Tampa but have a five-game point streak (3-0-2) going and sit just above the Panthers in the Atlantic Division standings.

If the Panthers and Canadiens were tied, Florida would have the tiebreaker just off regulation wins (18-13) although it is way to early to think about any of that stuff.

We’re not even at the midway point of the season yet.

Yet.

Tonight is Game No. 39.

This season is almost halfway complete.

NOTEBOOK: CANADIENS AT PANTHERS

• The Panthers will honor Brad Marchand for scoring 1,000 points before tonight’s game.
• The NHL Winter Classic is in Miami on Friday thanks in great part to the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning working with one another. Cats and Bolts, living together. Mass hysteria!
• Sergei Bobrovsky moved up to eighth on the NHL all-time wins list Monday night. He’s just enjoying the gig.
• Starting Goalies: Daniil Tarasov is expected to be back for the Panthers; The Canadiens will give Montembeault his first start since Dec. 9.
• How to Watch/Stream: The Panthers are on local TV tonight. The game can be streamed at Panthers+ and ESPN+.
• NHL Betting Odds: The Panthers are a slight favorite (-135) on the money line. To win with the Panthers,  a $135 bet wins $100.

ON DECK: GAME No. 39

MONTREAL CANADIENS at FLORIDA PANTHERS

• When: Tuesday, 7 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla) 
• Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
• Radio: WQAM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 931 or 932, NHL App
• Local Betting Odds — Panthers Favored: MoneyLine (-135); Puck Line -1.5 (+160); O/U 6.5 (+100/-120)
• Last Season: Canadiens won 4-0
• This Season — At Montreal: Jan. 8; April 7. At Florida: Tonight.
• All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 58-43-11, 6 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers — 2026 NHL Winter Classic at LoanDepot Park, Miami: Friday vs. New York Rangers, 8 p.m. (TNT/HBO Max)

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (21-15-2) LINES

27 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 13 Sam Reinhart

23 Carter Verhaeghe // 9 Sam Bennett // 63 Brad Marchand 

11 Mackie Samoskevich // 17 Evan Rodrigues // 10 A.J. Greer

71 Luke Kunin // 53 Jack Studnicka // 70 Jesper Boqvist

42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad

77 Niko Mikkola // 3 Seth Jones

26 Uvis Balinskis // 2 Jeff Petry

40 Daniil Tarasov

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

Scratched: Donovan Sebrango, Noah Gregor

Injured: Sasha Barkov (knee), Matthew Tkachuk (lower body), Tomas Nosek (knee), Dmitry Kulikov (shoulder), Jonah Gadjovich (upper body), Cole Schwindt (broken arm)

PROJECTED MONTREAL CANADIENS (20-12-6) LINES

13 Cole Caufield // 14 Nick Suzuki // 85 Alexandre Texier

20 Juraj Slafkovsky // 91 Oliver Kapanen // 93 Ivan Demidov

76 Zack Bolduc // 24 Phillip Danault // 17 Josh Anderson

27 Sammy Blais // 90 Joe Veleno // 11 Brendan Gallagher

8 Mike Matheson // 53 Noah Dobson

48 Lane Hutson // 42 Adam Engstrom

72 Arber Xhekaj // 45 Alexandre Carrier

35 Sam Montembeault

32 Jacob Fowler

Scratched: Jayden Struble, Owen Beck, Jakub Dobes

Injured: Kirby Dach (broken foot), Alex Newhook (broken ankle), Kaiden Guhle (lower body), Patrik Laine (lower body), Jake Evans (lower body)