The Montreal Canadiens (7-3-2) face the Dallas Stars (7-4-1) on Thursday night, with puck drop set for 8 p.m. ET. The Habs will look to extend their winning streak to four games, doing so without the benefit of having captain Nick Suzuki in the lineup.

For the most part, the Canadiens have done an excellent job controlling the flow of games, as shown by their much-improved underlying numbers this season. Tuesday night’s 2-0 win over the St. Louis Blues, however, was far from dominant in puck possession. The Blues outshot the Canadiens 46-21 and generated 20 high-danger scoring chances at 5v5, while limiting Montreal to just eight.

The difference was a perfect performance from rookie netminder Jacob Fowler, who has clearly established himself as the team’s hottest goaltender early in the season. The 21-year-old currently boasts an impressive 1.54 goals-against average and a sparkling .942 save percentage. In contrast, Jakub Dobes has struggled significantly, posting a 4.47 GAA and an .847 save percentage. The gap between them is stark, not only in their ability to steal games, but in making the routine saves the Canadiens desperately need.

Despite Fowler’s six-game winning streak and some of the best numbers in the NHL, head coach Martin St-Louis has opted to start Dobes against the Stars. On the surface, it looks like a questionable choice. There is some logic behind it, though: giving Dobes a chance to redeem himself away from the Bell Centre while saving Fowler for Saturday’s marquee match up against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Dobes has only managed to register one win this season, a 26-save effort to open the season versus the Toronto Maple Leafs on September 29. He’s yet to save more than 90% of the shots sent his way in a single game since then.

If the Habs want to give him a real opportunity to get back in the win column, they will need to do a much better job limiting high-quality scoring chances. Beyond a few players, most notably Mike Matheson and Florian Xhekaj, the majority of the lineup struggled in the puck-possession department on Tuesday night.

St-Louis did not confirm any lineup changes at Thursday afternoon’s media availability, but there are decent odds the Canadiens will make some important modifications before puck drop.

The top six has shown little potential in recent games, which led to Oliver Kapanen being removed from the first line at practice on Wednesday and replaced by Alex Newhook. Newhook is set to play alongside Juraj Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield. Kapanen, meanwhile, centred the second line between Owen Beck and Josh Anderson, though it should be noted that Beck was filling in for Chris Kreider, who took a therapy day and skipped practice.

As for the Stars, they lost 5-1 to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night. Prior to that, however, they had put together a five-game winning streak that included three victories requiring extra time.

Goaltender Jake Oettinger has been excellent, posting numbers relatively similar to Fowler’s: a 1.43 goals-against average (third in the NHL) and a .929 save percentage (fourth in the league). To make matters more difficult for the visiting Canadiens, Oettinger has five wins in eight career starts against them.

Montreal Canadiens Projected Lineup

Cole Caufield – Alex Newhook* – Juraj Slafkovsky

Chris Kreider- Oliver Kapanen* – Josh Anderson

Zach Bolduc – Phillip Danault – Alexandre Texier

Kirby Dach – Jake Evans – Florian Xhekaj

Lane Hutson – Noah Dobson

Kaiden Guhle – Alexandre Carrier

Mike Matheson – Arber Xhekaj*

Jakub Dobes

Dallas Stars Projected Lineup

Joel Kiviranta – Wyatt Johnston – Mikko Rantanen

Jason Robertson – Roope Hintz – Tyler Seguin

Justin Hryckowian – Arttu Hyry – Jamie Benn

Dylan Hryckowian – Colin Blackwell – Matthew Seminoff

Thomas Harley – Miro Heiskanen

Lian Bichsel – Nils Lundkvist

Kyle Capobianco – Tyler Myers

Jake Oettinger

Canadiens vs. Stars – How To Watch

The Montreal Canadiens versus the Dallas Stars, Thursday, October 29, will be aired on TSN2 and RDS. An instant recap complete with highlights will be immediately available on Sportsnaut once the final whistle blows.