Carolina Hurricanes vs. Montreal Canadiens: Lineups, Game Preview and How to Watch

What - Game 40 (24-12-3)
When - 7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 1
Where - Lenovo Center; Raleigh, NC
How to Watch - FanDuel Sports Network South, TSN2, RDS

The Carolina Hurricanes will look to kick off 2026 with a win as they play host to the Montreal Canadiens tonight in Raleigh.

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The Canes are coming off of a 5-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday, so it might be a motivated squad tonight as they look to get the bad taste of that game out of their mouth.

On the other side, the Canadiens are coming off of a 3-2 overtime victory over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday and have points in six straight contests.

Montreal has a lot of young talent and they're one of the league's top offensive teams, so it will be a good test for a Canes squad missing a few key pieces.

Streaks

• N/A

Milestone Watch

• Jesperi Kotkaniemi will play in his 500th career game and K'Andre Miller will play in his 400th career game tonight.

• Sebastian Aho is three goals away from 300 career goals.

Game Notes

• Carolina is 85-105-20-7 all-time against Montreal, including going 1-2-0 last season.

• In fact, the Hurricanes are 17-3-1 in the last 21 meetings between the two teams.

• Sebastian Aho (11g, 24pts in 22gp) is a point-per-game player for his career against the Habs.

• Jesperi Kotkaniemi was drafted third overall by Montreal in 2018 and he played 171 games with the franchise from 2018-2021.

• Mike Reilly also played in Montreal from 2017-2020.

• Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki is the brother of Hurricanes prospect Ryan Suzuki.

Projected Starting Goalies

• Brandon Bussi: 13-1-1; 0.912 Sv%; 2.08 GAA

• Jakub Dobes: 12-5-3; 0.894 Sv%; 2.90 GAA

Leading Scorers

• Goals - Seth Jarvis (19) / Cole Caufield (19)

• Points - Sebastian Aho (35) / Nick Suzuki (44)

Power Play

• Carolina - 17.8% (22nd)

• Montreal - 25% (4th)

Penalty Kill

• Carolina - 79.4% (19th)

• Montreal - 77.8% (23rd)

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