Monday, November 17, 2025 – 7:30 ET
Nationwide Arena – Columbus, Ohio
TV: FDSNOH; Radio: 97.1 FM
Montreal Canadiens (10-6-2, 22 points, 2nd Atlantic, 5th East)
at
Columbus Blue Jackets (9-7-2, 20 points, 7th Metro, 12th East)
Previously
Do you want the good news or the bad news? The bad news is the Jackets lost on Saturday night at home to a divisional opponent, the New York Rangers. The good news is that they at least got a loser point for taking it to a shootout, and Jet Greaves played well in goal.
Despite both teams being rested, as I was watching from 107 it felt like the pace of play was fairly slow. Neither team felt like the dominated, despite the Rangers having a clear edge in the underlying numbers. But I’m concerned that the Jackets didn’t threaten to score often enough.
Player to Watch
Cole Caufield
We love the Smol Goal Boi, don’t we, folks? The former Wisconsin Badger has 13 goals in his first 18 games and is making it very difficult for Bill Guerin and the rest of the USA Hockey brass to leave him off the Olympic roster. As a short man myself, I am also happy to see small player succeed and I hope Caufield continues. Just not tonight, obviously.
Jackets Notes
Jet Greaves has started four games in a row. Does Elvis Merzlikins finally get to play again tonight? … I enjoyed seeing some Blue Jackets alumni at the game on Saturday, but especially OG Jacket David Vyborny.
The Other Bench
Hey, remember Patrik Laine? Yeah, he’s out 3-4 months with a core body injury … The Habs have lost three in a row, all at home, with a combined score of 3-15 … Jakub Dobes will get the start in net. The OSU alumnus is 6-1-1 with a .901 SV% and 2.70 GAA. That’s way better than Sam Montembeault’s numbers this season, so Dobes may become the primary goaltender for the rest of the season.
Season Series
11/17/25 MTL @ CBJ
03/26/26 CBJ @ MTL
04/11/26 CBJ @ MTL
Stats
| Montreal | Columbus | |
| 3.33 (6) | GPG | 3.00 (17) |
| 3.39 (25) | GAPG | 3.11 (19) |
| 21.4 (13) | PP% | 16.3 (23) |
| 79.4 (16) | PK% | 72.9 (26) |
| 48.4 (20) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 51.0 (14) |
| 49.4 (17) | 5v5 Unblocked Shot Attempt % | 50.5 (14) |
| 11.3 (2) | 5v5 Shooting % | 9.3 (17) |
| 89.0 (26) | 5v5 Save % | 91.9 (9) |
| Cole Caufield (13) | G Leader | Kirill Marchenko (8) |
| Nick Suzuki (17) | A Leader | Kirill Marhenko (12) |
| Nick Suzuki (19) | P Leader | Kirill Marchenko (20) |
| Arber Xhekaj (30) | PIM Leader | Mathieu Olivier (44) |
| 5-2-1 | Home/Road | 4-3-1 |
| 4-4-2 | Last 10 | 5-3-2 |
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
| Dmitri Voronkov | Adam Fantilli | Kirill Marchenko |
| Luca Del Bel Belluz | Sean Monahan | Kent Johnson |
| Cole Sillinger | Charlie Coyle | Mathieu Olivier |
| Miles Wood | Isac Lundestrom | Yegor Chinakhov |
| Zach Werenski | Ivan Provorov |
| Denton Mateychuk | Damon Severson |
| Jake Christiansen | Dante Fabbro |
| Elvis Merzlikins |
| Jet Greaves |
Montreal Canadiens
| Cole Caufield | Nick Suzuki | Juraj Slafkovsky |
| Zack Bolduc | Oliver Kapanen | Ivan Demidov |
| Joshua Roy | Jake Evans | Josh Anderson |
| Jared Davidson | Joe Veleno | Brendan Gallagher |
| Mike Matheson | Noah Dobson |
| Jayden Struble | Lane Hutson |
| Arber Xhekaj | Alexandre Carrier |
| Jakub Dobes |
| Sam Montembeault |