Announcement from Martin St-Louis: it is now confirmed for Kirby Dach

In the final minutes, Montreal Canadiens head coach Martin St-Louis confirmed that he would be making several changes for tonight's game.

First, he confirmed that Juraj Slafkovsky and Kirby Dach, who were playing on the last unit at practice yesterday morning, will start the game on the team's fourth line alongside Joel Armia.

This also means that Nick Suzuki will have two new linemates, as he will be alongside Cole Caufield and Alex Newhook.

For his part, Quebec forward Joshua Roy, who was recalled by the Habs yesterday morning, will play his very first game with the big club this season, as he will be used on the third unit with Jake Evans and Emil Heineman.

The second line, composed of Brendan Gallagher, Christian Dvorak and Josh Anderson, will therefore be the only one that will remain unchanged, they who claim a combined total of 29 points since the start of the 2024-2025 campaign.

As for the defensive brigade, Martin St-Louis completely modified his defense for the clash against Utah HC, reuniting Lane Hutson and Mike Matheson on the first defensive duo.

In addition, Justin Barron, who only played one game in November, will have the opportunity to prove that he deserves a permanent position with the Habs. Number 52 will be used alongside Kaiden Guhle on the team's second defensive duo.

Finally, Arber Xhekaj and David Savard will form the third defensive pair, they who had a lot of success together last season.

Here is the lineup that will face the Utah HC tonight:

Note that Samuel Montembeault will once again be in goal for the Montreal Canadiens, making his fifth consecutive start.

The Quebec goalie will certainly want to forget his last performance against the Vegas Golden Knights, where he allowed five goals on 25 shots, and was taken out of the game after the second period.

Since the start of the season, the Habs number 35 has a record of six wins, nine losses and one overtime loss, with a goals-against average of 3.09 and an efficiency rate of 0.899.

Do you think the Canadiens will get back to winning ways tonight?

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