The San Jose Sharks are back in action tonight after a rare weekend off from game play. While the team practiced this past weekend, there were no games. The Sharks, have three games left until the break for the Four Nations Tournament and tonight is game one against the Montreal Canadiens.
This will be San Jose’s first game without Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci. On Saturday, General Manager Mike Grier traded the two veteran players for two draft picks, including a first-round pick in 2025. With Ceci and Granlund leaving and no NHL-level players coming back in the deal, the Sharks will have to look within to fill the holes in the lineup. It’s even tougher considering that there are injuries to contend with. Klim Kostin still isn’t ready to play and Tyler Toffoli is a game time decision.
With Ty Dellandrea and Alex Wennberg and Marc-Edouard Vlasic As a result, the team has called up Andrew Poturalski, Collin Graf and Shakir Mukhamadullin from the Barracuda.
The Canadiens are dealing with issues of their own. The team has lost five games in a row, including a 3-2 loss on Sunday in regulation to the Anaheim Ducks. The Canadiens allowed the Ducks to score three unanswered goals in the game’s final two periods. What’s more, Head Coach Martin St. Louis benched Patrik Laine at the close of the game.
Marc Dumont of Montreal Hockey Now reports that because of the benching, St. Louis shook up the lines during practice and dropped Laine to the third line during Monday’s practice.
Nick Suzuki is the team’s top scorer with 51 points in 52 games. Cole Caufield leads the team with 25 goals.
But the most interesting thing might be the match up between two of the top contenders for the Calder Trophy – Macklin Celebrini and Lane Hutson. Hutson currently leads the rookie scoring race with 39 points in 52 games. As a defenseman putting up that many points is an even more impressive feat. That said, Celebrini has 37 points in 42 games, a much more impressive points per game stat.
Both players are very familiar with one another. They played on the same team together – Boston University – last season and they practiced together over the summer.
If you’re wondering about who is at the top of the Calder race, check out what TSN’s Craig Button had to say.
From @CraigJButton on @DominosCanada That's Hockey – Hutson vs. Celebrini…who deserves the Calder more? https://t.co/bTNMCSxB3r#DominosThatsHockey pic.twitter.com/FRDMFzHMNn
— TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) February 4, 2025
This is the first of two meetings between the Sharks and Canadiens. They will play again on Feb. 27 in Montreal.
San Jose Sharks lines tonight
As we’ve said, there are some injuries to deal with along with the trade, so who starts tonight is a big up in the air. Alexandar Georgiev will start with Vitek Vanecek backing him up. Remember that Yaroslav Askarov was sent back to the AHL.
Here’s what NHL.com has for the projected Sharks’ lineup tonight.
Forwards
William Eklund – Macklin Celebrini – Tyler Toffoli
Fabian Zetterlund – Andrew Poturalski – Will Smith
Collin Graf – Luke Kunin – Barclay Goodrow
Carl Grundstrom – Colin White – Walker Duehr
Defense
Jake Walman – Henry Thrun
Mario Ferraro – Jack Thompson
Shakir Mukhamadullin – Timothy Liljegren
Goaltenders
Alexandar Georgiev
Vitek Vanecek
Canadiens lines vs. San Jose Sharks
Dumont reports these lines out of Monday’s practice. We expect that this will be what Montreal ices tonight. Look for Samuel Montembeault to get the start.
Forwards
Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Juraj Slafkovsky
Alex Newhook – Kirby Dach – Josh Anderson
Patrik Laine – Jake Evans – Joel Armia
Michael Pezzetta – Christian Dvorak – Brendan Gallagher
Defense
Mike Matheson – Alex Carrier
Arber Xhekaj – Lane Hutson
Jayden Struble – David Savard
Goaltenders
Samuel Montembeault
Jakub Dobes
How to watch Montreal Canadiens at San Jose Sharks Feb. 4, 2025
Sharks fans can watch the game on NBC Sports California or listen to it via the Sharks Audio Network.
Montreal fans can watch the game on TSN2, RDS or listen on TSN 690 and 98.5 FM.
The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. PT/10:30 p.m. ET at SAP Center.