Canadiens make a lineup call on the blue line before the Bruins showdown

Montreal just announced that Mike Matheson returns to the lineup against the Bruins tonight, with Adam Engstrom sitting out.

It's a notable change for the visitors on a night when first place in the Atlantic is on the line at TD Garden. The Canadiens announced it on their official account in both languages.

Matheson has played 8 games this season, with 1 goal and 3 assists. He is listed as day-to-day with a lower body issue according to the latest injury report, and the lineup announcement has him playing. Engstrom, the 22-year-old defenseman, has 1 goal and 1 assist in 12 games and a +6 rating.

The bigger question for Boston is up front. Eric Engels, who is in town for the game, wrote that Nick Suzuki sounds like a game-time decision, and that Martin St-Louis would speak shortly.

Suzuki leads this Canadiens team with 16 points in 12 games. If he can't go, Marco Sturm's group gets a break. If he does, the Bruins face the same visiting lineup that has gone 7-0-3 over its last 10.

That record is why nobody in the Boston room should treat this as a soft spot on the schedule. Montreal is 3rd in the Atlantic at 11-3-4, and its last game was a 2-1 overtime loss to Minnesota on Tuesday.

Does Montreal's blue line shuffle change anything for Boston?

A little. Matheson has 713 NHL games behind him, and a defenseman with that much experience on the ice makes the Bruins' forecheck harder to break. Engstrom is the younger, less proven option, and he's the one who sits.

Still, Montreal swapping one defenseman for another is less of a story than who plays between the pipes. Jacob Fowler gets the start for the Canadiens, as we reported this morning with Jacob Fowler's start in Boston confirmed. Jeremy Swayman is in the other crease.

A fantasy hockey post listing the confirmed starters puts Fowler at 3-0-2 over his last 5 with a .925 save percentage. Swayman is 3-2-0 over his last 5 at .907.

The Bruins come in rested. They haven't played since Sunday's 4-1 win over the Panthers, and they've won four straight at 13-4-1. At home they're 8-1-0, so the building should be with them.

This is a team Sturm has already called his biggest rivalry, as he said in his comments on the Canadiens rivalry. The last meeting, on March 17, 2026, went to Montreal 3-2 in overtime at the Bell Centre.

We'll find out soon whether Suzuki is in the lineup once St-Louis speaks.

More to come.

This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence, based on public reports and official sources.