Fans who made their way to the Bell Centre to watch the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night got to see Ivan Demidov and new defenseman Noah Dobson. On Tuesday, they’ll see the top line: Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Juraj Slafkovsky, the second pair of defensemen, which consists of Kaiden Guhle and Lane Hutson, and both Xhekaj brothers. For the first time, Arber and Florian Xhekaj will be suiting up for the same team.
Alex Newhook, Samuel Bolduc, and Joshua Roy will be forming the second line. This is a big opportunity for the St-Georges native. Unlike Oliver Kapanen, who only served as a placeholder for Kirby Dach on Monday, Roy will be skating in a role that’s actually available. After a great summer of training, Roy shed 16 pounds and, as a result, he’s much faster on his skates.
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Samuel Blais, Joe Veleno, and Austrian winger Vinzenz Rohrer will form the third line while the younger Xhekaj will center Luke Tuch and Tyler Thorpe, a line that could do a lot of damage in Laval, should the three start the season there.
On the blue line, the older Xhekaj and Alex Carrier will be the second pairing behind Guhle and Hutson, and David Reinbacher will suit up with Tobie Paquette-Bisson. While some would probably like to see Reinbacher get a chance in the NHL this season, the youngster isn’t ripe for the show yet. The knee injury he sustained last year didn’t help his development, even though the Canadiens kept him involved in team meetings and video sessions; there’s nothing like actually playing the games.
In net, Jakub Dobes and Kaapo Kahkonen will split the games like Samuel Montembeault and Jacob Fowler did on Monday against the Pittsburgh Penguins. As for the visiting Philadelphia Flyers, they won’t be dressing Russian-born Matvei Michkov, who played in Sunday’s game and featured in the highlight reels for the wrong reason when first-overall pick at the last draft, Matthew Schaefer, stopped him on a breakaway.
Just an absolutely insane defensive backcheck from Matthew Schaefer on Matvei Michkov 😱
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) September 22, 2025
In the first overall pick’s first NHL game too 😳
(via @OSulr81) pic.twitter.com/CqRBhSJOdg
There will be at least a couple of familiar faces wearing orange, though. Christian Dvorak, who left the Canadiens in free agency this summer, will return to his old stomping ground, and another former Hab, tough guy Nicolas Deslauriers, will also be in the lineup. Other big names who will suit up for the Flyers include Sean Couturier, Owen Tippett, and Travis Sanheim.
If Deslauriers wants to rough someone up, he can expect plenty of opposition; the Xhekaj brothers, Thuch, and Thorpe all play with a physical edge. It’s been some time since a pair of brothers suited up for the Canadiens; the last ones to do so were Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn in 2007-08.
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