The Canadiens return to the Centre Bell on Thursday, November 5, to host the Utah Mammoth at 7:00 PM ET, two days after the 5-4 overtime loss to Winnipeg in which they gave up a 4-0 lead. Montreal is 9-3-3 with 21 points, second in the Atlantic Division, and 7-1-2 in its last ten games. Utah is 10-6-0 with 20 points, second in the Central, and 6-4-0 in its last ten after beating Toronto 3-2 on Tuesday on a late power-play goal by Nick Schmaltz. Jakub Dobeš starts in goal for Montreal, Nick Suzuki and Kirby Dach are back in the lineup, and Owen Beck and Florian Xhekaj are out. Suzuki returns to the top line between Juraj Slafkovský and Cole Caufield, and Utah has not named its starter.

Canadiens Lines and Goalie for Utah

Nick Suzuki and Kirby Dach are in the lineup, and Owen Beck and Florian Xhekaj are out. Suzuki goes back between Juraj Slafkovský and Cole Caufield, which moves Alex Newhook to the second line with Chris Kreider and Josh Anderson. Jake Evans drops to the fourth line with Oliver Kapanen and Dach, and the defense pairs do not change. The full lines are also on the Lineup Tonight page.

Canadiens Lines	Thursday vs. Utah
Line 1	Juraj Slafkovský, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield
Line 2	Chris Kreider, Alex Newhook, Josh Anderson
Line 3	Alexandre Texier, Phillip Danault, Zachary Bolduc
Line 4	Oliver Kapanen, Jake Evans, Kirby Dach
Defense 1	Lane Hutson, Noah Dobson
Defense 2	Kaiden Guhle, Alexandre Carrier
Defense 3	Arber Xhekaj, Adam Engström
Goalie	Jakub Dobeš (starts), Jacob Fowler
Power play 1	Caufield, Slafkovský, Suzuki, Hutson, Bolduc
Power play 2	Kreider, Newhook, Dobson, Texier, Dach
Out	Owen Beck, Florian Xhekaj

The power play is the other change. Suzuki takes the spot Newhook had on the first unit with Caufield, Slafkovský, Hutson and Bolduc, while Newhook and Dach join Kreider, Dobson and Texier on the second unit. Anderson and Kapanen come off it.

The real question after Tuesday is not the names, it is the response. The staff just watched a team lose its structure in two minutes, so the first priority on Thursday is a simple, disciplined game in the defensive zone: cover the front of the net, communicate on the switches and do not chase the puck. Utah has the players to punish a loose night. Clayton Keller, Logan Cooley, Nick Schmaltz and Dylan Guenther drive the offense, and Mikhail Sergachev plays 23:47 a night from the back end.

The Goalies

Jakub Dobeš gets the start. He is 2-2-2 with a .853 save percentage and a 4.05 goals-against average in six games, and this is his chance to settle a team that just gave up four goals in two minutes. Jacob Fowler, who is 7-1-1 with a .925 save percentage and a 2.17 goals-against average in nine games with two shutouts, faced 47 shots against Winnipeg on Tuesday and had Montreal in front until the final minutes. With Saturday in Toronto next, both goalies will be needed this week.

Utah has not named a starter yet. Sebastian Cossa made 27 saves in Toronto on Tuesday and has won his last three starts, so Karel Vejmelka is the natural option with Cossa coming off Tuesday. Vejmelka is 6-5-0 with a .872 save percentage and a 3.31 goals-against average in 12 games with one shutout, and Cossa is 4-1-0 with a .875 save percentage and a 2.95 goals-against average in six.

Know Your Opponent: The Mammoth

Utah scores 3.56 goals a game (9th in the league) and allows 3.38 (22nd). The team controls the shot count: 30.3 shots for and 24.8 against per game. Keller leads the team with 21 points (4 goals, 17 assists), Sergachev has 19 points (5 goals, 14 assists) from the blue line, and Schmaltz and Logan Cooley each have 8 goals and 17 points. Guenther has 6 goals. Jack McBain leads the team with 62 hits, and MacKenzie Weegar has 52.

Utah is coached by Quebec native André Tourigny, and its projected group has Keller on a line with Barrett Hayton and Anders Lee, Cooley with Vincent Trocheck and Lawson Crouse, and Schmaltz with Jack McBain and Guenther. Sergachev and Weegar are expected to form the top defense pair. Goaltenders Karel Vejmelka (.872) and Sebastian Cossa (.875) have both been below average in save percentage, which is where the Canadiens can create trouble with traffic and second chances. Utah has not confirmed its lineup or starter.

Tuesday’s win in Toronto followed a 6-3 loss in Philadelphia on Sunday. Guenther scored on the power play with 13 seconds left in the first period, Andrew Peeke added the second goal, and Schmaltz scored the winner on the power play in the third. Keller had three assists. On the injury side, John Marino and Maveric Lamoureux are on injured reserve and Kailer Yamamoto was listed day to day before Tuesday’s game.

Special Teams Will Decide a Lot

This is the matchup to watch. Utah’s power play is clicking at 36.4 percent, second in the league, and its penalty kill is 26th at 70.0 percent. Montreal is the opposite: the Canadiens’ power play is 30th at 13.0 percent, while their penalty kill is 12th at 81.7 percent. Keller is the engine of that Utah power play: his 14 power-play points (2 goals, 12 assists) are second in the NHL behind Connor McDavid’s 16, so the Canadiens’ penalty killers have to close his passing lanes. The Mammoth scored twice with the man advantage in Toronto, and Montreal cannot give them chances. Tuesday showed how fast a lead can disappear, so the message for Thursday is simple: stay out of the box, score first and make Utah’s penalty kill work, because the Canadiens will need a power-play goal to break the game open.

The shot numbers also matter. Utah outshoots opponents 30.3 to 24.8 per game, while Montreal is at 27.1 for and 28.9 against, and Winnipeg outshot the Canadiens 47-22 on Tuesday. Dobeš will be busy again unless the forwards support the puck better through the neutral zone.

Milestones to Watch

Clayton Keller has 199 points (60 goals, 139 assists) in 179 games with the Utah franchise. One more point and he becomes the first Mammoth player to reach 200 points with the franchise. Among active players he would be the ninth-fastest to reach that mark with one franchise; Sidney Crosby is the fastest, at 142 games with Pittsburgh.

On the Montreal side, Lane Hutson has 39 career multi-point games. One more would make him the ninth-fastest defenseman in NHL history to reach 40. Cale Makar, at 155 games, is the only active defenseman to get there before his 200th career game.

Injury Updates

Nick Suzuki has been out with a left-hand injury since he blocked a shot against San Jose on October 22, and Thursday marks two weeks of the two-to-four-week timeline. He has missed the last six games and is back on the first line. Kirby Dach, who missed the last two games with a virus, is in as well, on the fourth line. Mike Matheson was ruled out for two weeks with a lower-body injury, Samuel Montembeault is day to day, and Ivan Demidov has not returned from his foot injury. Check the Injury Report for the latest.

History and What Comes Next

Montreal is 3-0-1 in the last four meetings with Utah since the Mammoth arrived in 2024-25, with a 17-11 goal difference. Utah won the first one 3-2 in overtime in Montreal on November 26, 2024. The Canadiens then won 5-3 in Utah on January 14, 2025, 6-2 at the Bell Centre on November 8, 2025, and 4-3 in Utah on November 26, 2025. After Thursday, the Canadiens visit Toronto on Saturday, host Minnesota on Tuesday, November 10, and visit Boston on November 12. Read our recap of the Jets game and our look at the biggest collapse in franchise history before Thursday’s game.

The plan for Thursday is simple: a calm start, discipline at both ends and a goalie who gets support in front of him. A 4-0 lead is gone, but two points against a good team at home are still on the table, and how this group responds will tell us a lot about what kind of team it is.

Sources: official NHL statistics, NHL.com, RDS and Inside the Rink.