Early look The full preview opens on Saturday 17 October, three days before puck drop, with the expected goalies, the latest team news and game-day prices. Until then this page shows the matchup as it stands.
Early look · NHL 2026-27

San Jose Sharks at Montréal Canadiens: game preview

Puck drop20 Oct · 7:00 PM ET
VenueCentre Bell
All-time meetings52 completed
BasisLast 5 meetings + 2025-26
The thesis

Twenty points apart last season

San Jose finished last season 24th in the league on 86 points. Montréal finished 6th on 106.

Game-day prices arrive with the afternoon snapshot, about 4:30 PM ET on the day of the game.

Head-to-head

Meeting number 53

Across 52 completed games, San Jose lead the head-to-head 30-16-6.

All-time record30-16-6San Jose's record in the series
Meetings played52This is number 53
2025-26 series—
Last 53-2San Jose
DateResultShotsPower playWinner
14 Mar 2026SJS 4 – MTL 2——SJS
3 Mar 2026MTL 5 – SJS 7——SJS
27 Feb 2025SJS 3 – MTL 4 OT——MTL
4 Feb 2025MTL 4 – SJS 3——MTL
11 Jan 2024SJS 3 – MTL 2——SJS
Head-to-head finder

The table on each 2025-26 meeting night

DateSan JoseMontréal
3 Mar 202626-21-3 · 55 pts21st28-17-7 · 63 pts9th
14 Mar 202632-26-6 · 70 pts20th36-19-10 · 82 pts7th

League rank after that night's games; a longer bar is a higher place. On 3 Mar 2026, San Jose were 21st in the league and Montréal 9th. By 14 Mar 2026 it was 20th and 7th.


Where the shots come from · last 5 meetings

Montréal out-attempted San Jose 131 to 109

Every attempt from the last meetings, both teams shooting right.

San Jose Sharks

109 att · 50 on goal · 11 G · 22.0%
Crease14 att · 2 G
Slot35 att · 5 G
Wing43 att · 2 G
Point13 att · 2 G
Neutral zone4 att · 0 G

Montréal Canadiens

131 att · 63 on goal · 7 G · 11.1%
Crease8 att · 0 G
Slot54 att · 2 G
Wing49 att · 5 G
Point19 att · 0 G
Neutral zone1 att · 0 G
GoalOn goalMissedBlocked

Expected goals

Montréal have created the better chances, last 10 games

Shot quality both ways: expected goals weigh every unblocked attempt by its chance of scoring. Finishing above zero means more goals than the chances.

San JoseMontréal
2.13xG for per game2.61
3.72xG against per game3.61
36.4%xG share42.0%
+2.6FinishingGoals minus expected goals+4.2
−0.8GoaltendingExpected goals against minus goals allowed−3.2

This season: 3 games for San Jose, 3 for Montréal. Small sample: early-season xG moves a lot from night to night.

Every team’s xG →


Special teams

Power play and penalty kill, season and series

This season's rates first, then 2025-26 and the last meetings between the two. Power-play chances are counted from the penalty log with coincidental minors cancelled; faceoffs are each club's wins over draws taken.

All bars share one scale · 0–100%SeasonLast meetings

San Jose

Small sample
Power play · 2026-2725.0%
Power play · 2025-2621.2% · 16th
Power play · last 5 meetings—
Penalty kill · 2026-2775.0%
Penalty kill · 2025-2676.4% · 26th
Faceoffs · 2026-2744.4% · 72/162
Drawn · 2026-278 (2.67/gm)
Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)
Shorthanded · 2026-2712 (4.00/gm)
PP goals · last meetings0

Montréal

Small sample
Power play · 2026-2710.0%
Power play · 2025-2623.1% · 10th
Power play · last 5 meetings—
Penalty kill · 2026-2775.0%
Penalty kill · 2025-2678.2% · 18th
Faceoffs · 2026-2753.9% · 96/178
Drawn · 2026-2710 (3.33/gm)
Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)
Shorthanded · 2026-2712 (4.00/gm)
PP goals · last meetings0

Skaters

Skaters to watch

Each club's top three forwards and defencemen by points this season, with 2025-26 one tap away.

PlayerGPGAPP/GP
2Will Smith32131.00
92Igor Chernyshov32131.00
14Nick Suzuki32462.00
22Chris Kreider31341.33
76Zachary Bolduc33031.00
Points leaders
PlayerGPGAPP/GP
42Luca Cagnoni31120.67
5Nolan Allan21010.50
65Jacob Trouba30110.33
48Lane Hutson30441.33
8Mike Matheson30110.33
Defencemen stats

Goaltending

Who has stopped this matchup

Save percentage in the last meetings by goalie. Starters are confirmed on game day.

Expected startersAn estimate until the teams confirmEvery game tonight →

Expected starter after their game on 19 Oct: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

Expected starter after their game on 17 Oct: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

San Jose crease

SJS · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 17 Oct

Yaroslav Askarov.8623 GP · 2-1-0 · GSAx −0.8

No appearances against Montréal in the last meetings.

Montréal crease

MTL · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 17 Oct

Jakub Dobes.8573 GP · 1-1-1 · GSAx −3.0

No appearances against San Jose in the last meetings.


Totals

Scoring rates point to about 6.8 goals

No total is posted yet: it arrives with the game-day prices. Until then, the scoring rates and the recent meetings set the range.

Goals in the last 5 meetings

14 Mar 20266 · SJS 4–2 MTL
3 Mar 202612 · MTL 5–7 SJS
27 Feb 20257 · SJS 3–4 MTL
4 Feb 20257 · MTL 4–3 SJS
11 Jan 20245 · SJS 3–2 MTL

Bar length is total goals, coloured by the winner.

Scoring rates

Team26-27 GF26-27 GA25-26 GF25-26 GA
San Jose3.004.003.063.56
Montréal4.004.673.453.12

Goals for and against per game. The estimate averages each team’s scoring with the other’s goals allowed, and leans on 2025-26 until a team has played 20 games.

Scoring rates suggest6.8Goals in this game
Last 5 meetings7.4Goals per game
Line—No total posted yet
Books at the line—With the game-day prices

Team news

11 on the injury lists

San Jose · injuries

Adam GaudetteUpper BodyIRReturn10 Oct
Alex Barre-BouletUndisclosedIRReturn8 Oct
Cam LundUpper BodyIRReturn19 Oct
Kyle KeyserUpper BodyIRReturn1 Dec
Macklin CelebriniLower BodyDay-to-dayReturn8 Oct
Quentin MustyUpper BodyIRReturn1 Dec

Montréal · injuries

Bryce PickfordUndisclosedIRReturn17 Oct
Ivan DemidovLower BodyIRReturn31 Oct
Kaiden GuhleGroinIRReturn20 Oct
Lucas CondottaUndisclosedIRReturn10 Oct
Oliver KapanenLower BodyOutReturn8 Oct
4 Oct · SJS

Placed C Patrick Giles on waivers.

27 Sep · SJS

Placed G Ilya Samsonov on waivers.

23 Sep · SJS

Placed RW Ethan Cardwell, D Libor Hajek and LW Tye Felhaber on waivers.

27 Sep · MTL

Placed D Reilly Walsh, D Maksymilian Szuber, D Ethan Samson, C Sam Poulin, RW Sasha Pastujov, C Hunter McKown, G Kaapo Kähkönen, LW Brett Berard, and RW Alex Belzile on waivers for the purpose of loaning them to Laval (AHL).

12 Sep · MTL

Signed F Chris Kreider to a one-year contract.

9 Aug 2026 · MTL

Loaned F Vinzenz Rohrer to EV Zug (Switzerland).

Injury report
#2Ivar StenbergRound 1 · FrolundaLW
#9Keaton VerhoeffRound 1 · North DakotaD
#21Ryan LinRound 1 · VancouverD
#127Brady KnowlingRound 4 · Usa U-18G
Full draft
#26Gleb PugachyovRound 1 · Nizhny Novgorod Jr.RW
#57Timofei RuntsoRound 2 · VictoriaD
#93Cooper CleavesRound 3 · DartmouthD
#117Brayden KlimpkeRound 4 · SaskatoonD
Full draft

Updated after every final