Habs vs. Wild: Fowler Starts, Evans a Game-Time Call

The Canadiens host the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. ET at the Bell Centre, and it is a real test. Montréal is 11-3-3 and 8-0-2 in its last 10 games, second in the Atlantic. Minnesota is 12-3-4, first in the Central, and 6-1-3 in its last 10. Both teams are winning, and neither has lost much in regulation lately. Carey Price is also set to be honored at the Bell Centre after his Hall of Fame induction, so the building will be loud from the start.

Jacob Fowler starts in goal, and Jake Evans is a game-time decision. Josh Anderson is back on the second line with Chris Kreider, and Owen Beck is a healthy scratch. The other lines are unchanged from the win in Toronto, and we will update this article if the Canadiens announce anything else.

Canadiens Lineup Status

Item	Status
Lines and pairings	Anderson back on line 2 with Kreider, Beck scratched
Jake Evans	Game-time decision
Josh Anderson	Back at practice after missing Toronto
Ivan Demidov	Did not skate Monday
Mike Matheson	Out
Goalie	Jacob Fowler starts

The biggest question is the center spot. Jake Evans left practice early Monday after an accidental contact with captain Nick Suzuki, and he is a game-time decision. He wins 55.1% of his faceoffs and kills penalties, and the Wild are a team that will make the Canadiens defend. If he cannot go, the Canadiens will have to shuffle the fourth line and the penalty kill. We broke down the practice lines in our practice update.

Carey Price Night at the Bell Centre

Before the puck drops, the Canadiens will honor Carey Price with an on-ice ceremony. It comes one day after his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, and his name goes into the Bell Centre Ring of Honour. The most recent addition before him was Shea Weber in 2024.

The numbers explain why the building will be loud. Price won 361 regular-season games in a Canadiens uniform, the most in franchise history and 47 more than Jacques Plante. He played 712 games, posted a .917 save percentage and a 2.51 goals-against average, and finished with 49 shutouts, third in club history behind George Hainsworth and Plante. In 2014-15 he went 44-16-6 with a 1.96 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage, and won the Hart, Vezina and Ted Lindsay trophies in the same season. His last NHL game was on April 29, 2022.

The Canadiens have not shared the ceremony’s start time or who will take part, so we will add details here if they do. For more on the man himself, read our piece on his Hall of Fame speech, and on the goalie who follows him, because Jacob Fowler starts in net on this particular night. That is a lot of weight for a rookie, and one more reason his calm will matter early.

The Goalies

Fowler gets the start for the Canadiens, and the Wild have not confirmed their goalie. Jacob Fowler is 8-1-1 with a .925 save percentage and a 2.15 goals-against average in 10 games. Jakub Dobeš is 3-2-2 with a .847 save percentage and a 4.04 goals-against average in 7 games. For the Wild, Jesper Wallstedt has played 16 games and is 11-2-3 with a .922 save percentage and a 1.99 goals-against average. Calvin Pickard is 1-1-1 in 3 games with a .855 save percentage.

Know Your Opponent: The Wild

Minnesota wins with defense and a power play that scores. The Wild allow 2.26 goals per game and score 3.32, and their power play converts 26.9% of the time. They are 5-0-2 at home and 7-3-2 on the road, so this is not a team that needs its own building to win.

Kirill Kaprizov leads them with 16 goals and 31 points in 19 games, which puts him on a pace well above 50 goals over 84 games. Quinn Hughes has 20 assists and 26 points and plays 28:07 a night, the most minutes of any Wild skater. Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy are both +16, and Yakov Trenin leads the team with 84 hits. The Wild beat you with the first pass out of the zone and with the defenseman who joins the rush, so the Canadiens forwards have to be back on time.

Season So Far: Wild vs Canadiens

Special Teams Will Decide a Lot

Minnesota’s power play is 26.9% and the Canadiens’ penalty kill is 78.3%. That is the matchup that decides the night. If the Canadiens take penalties the way they have for most of this season, the Wild have the players to punish them. On the other side, the Canadiens’ power play is 15.4% and the Wild’s penalty kill is 78.3%, so neither team has an edge there, and a power-play goal for Montréal would matter. Stay out of the box, and make the Wild earn it at five-on-five.

Injury Updates

Evans, who left practice early Monday, is a game-time decision. Josh Anderson was back on the ice after missing Saturday for personal reasons. Ivan Demidov did not skate and has missed 15 games, and Mike Matheson remains out. Samuel Montembeault skated before practice. Check our Injury Report for the latest.

History and What Comes Next

The Wild have owned this matchup. Since 2021-22, the Canadiens are 1-7-2 against Minnesota in 10 regular-season meetings and have been outscored 40-16. Their only win came on January 20, 2026, a 4-3 victory at the Bell Centre. The last meeting was a 4-3 overtime loss in Minnesota on February 2, 2026.

After Tuesday, the Canadiens play at Boston on Thursday, November 12 at 7:00 p.m. ET. Follow the game on our Lineup Tonight page and the standings page.

Sources: official NHL statistics and game data, NHL.com, Dose.ca and The Hockey News.