Jake Evans “expected to play” tonight | Samuel Montembeault in net

Tonight, the Canadiens take on the Senators in Ottawa. The club will meet up with its division rival… and for the occasion, we also expected to see some reinforcements.

Jake Evans, Kirby Dach, and Patrik Laine all skated in regular jerseys yesterday. The feeling was that their return was imminent.

And according to Martin St-Louis, who spoke to the media in the last few minutes, one of them should be back tonight: Jake Evans. The final decision will be made before the game, but he “should play,” according to the coach.

Martin St. Louis says decisions will be made after warmup but Jake Evans probably in

– Eric Engels (@EricEngels) January 17, 2026

St. Louis has ruled out the possibility of Dach and Laine playing tonight. The two guys aren't a possibility for tonight's game.

However, the coach also noted that there are other guys with minor injuries who could skip their turn. Alexandre Texier and Josh Anderson did not practice yesterday for treatment.

Of the injured players, only Jake Evans is a possibility for tonight.
Again, he will probably play. We'll see who comes out for him, as a couple of others are nursing some bumps and bruises.

– Eric Engels (@EricEngels) January 17, 2026

It should also be noted that St. Louis has confirmed the identity of its starting goaltender for tonight: it's Samuel Montembeault who will be in front of the net.

And this despite the fact that Montembeault has played more recently than Jakub Dobes. So it's safe to assume that Monty is back in the #1 chair.

Montembeault to protect the net against the Senators

Montembeault will be in net against the Sens#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/KgGzJVZ4Oz

– Montreal Canadiens (@CanadiensMTL) January 17, 2026

More details to come…