In what is the Hab's biggest game since their Stanley Cup Finals run, Montreal will look to close out Tampa Bay in six games at the Bell Centre tonight. Like I said previously, this has been a fun series to watch as both teams look to be evenly matched. Hopefully, the Habs can utilize the energy from the crow in order to propel them to victory.
When it comes to the lineup, St-Louis looks like he's going with the same squad that got the game 5 win in Tampa. According to NHL.com, these are the projected lines:
Canadiens projected lineup
Cole Caufield -- Nick Suzuki -- Josh Anderson
Juraj Slafkovsky -- Jake Evans -- Ivan Demidov
Alexandre Texier -- Kirby Dach -- Zachary Bolduc
Alex Newhook -- Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher
Mike Matheson -- Alexandre Carrier
Kaiden Guhle -- Lane Hutson
Jayden Struble -- Arber Xhekaj
Jakub Dobes
Jacob Fowler
These lines are interesting to say the last. Having Anderson on the top line will be interesting and hopefully he can generate some space for Caufield and Suzuki. I like Evans in between Slafkovsky and Demidov, and hopefully the latter two can find that chemistry they had earlier in the season. After a big goal on Wednesday, Gallagher remains in the lineup and will hopefully keep giving the Habs an emotional spark. I like how balanced the lineup currently looks, although I'm sad Kapanen is not playing but who do you take out? It's a good problem to have if your St-Louis, but not so much Kapanen.
One of the X factors for tonight will be goaltending. So far, Dobeš has been fantastic, and he needs to have his best game of the series tonight. The Bolts are a veteran team and I really doubt they lay an egg tonight. The Habs need to be ready to be hit, forechecked and challenged hard on the boards. If they can keep their heads, stay out of the box and Dobeš continues his strong play they will be able to punch their ticket to the second round tonight.