On Monday evening, for the first time in years, a regular-season Canadiens game will not be available in English on TV.
That’s because Amazon has acquired the Canadian TV rights to select Monday night NHL games from Rogers for the next two seasons. And Monday’s game with the Canadiens against the Pittsburgh Penguins is the first of those games.
Of the 26 Monday night games that Amazon has acquired rights to this season, five are Canadiens games. The others are Nov. 18, Dec. 9, Jan. 6 and April 14.
Here’s how you can catch this game:
- Subscribe to Amazon Prime and stream it. If you don’t already have Amazon Prime — which includes Amazon Prime Video and several other features, like free shipping on Amazon purchases — it can be bought for $10/month or $99/year (which works out to $8.25/month) or try it out 30 days for free. NHL games come at no extra cost to Prime members. Once you’re subscribed, you can watch the game:
- on a computer, at primevideo.com
- on a smartphone using the Prime Video app
- on streaming devices like Roku and Chromecast
- on latest-generation set-top boxes including those for Bell Fibe and Vidéotron Helix, using the Prime Video app
- on many models of smart TVs
- Watch it on RDS. Because Amazon has acquired only the English-language rights, the game is still available on RDS in French (but only in the Canadiens broadcast region, which includes eastern Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada).
- Listen on the radio. TSN Radio 690 (English) and 98.5 FM (French) will broadcast the game as usual.
- Get an illegal bootlegged stream online. We’re not going to tell you how to do this. We are going to warn you that it’s both illegal and unreliable, even if you pay for it.
- Don’t bother and just watch the highlights. TSN and Sportsnet will have highlights after the game, or you can watch them on YouTube or see videos of the big moments on the Canadiens’ social media (X, Facebook).
Methods that won’t work include watching on NHL Center Ice or Sportsnet+ Premium. The game will be blacked out on those services, at least in English.
If you’re in the U.S., you’ll still be able to watch the game on SportsNet Pittsburgh (in the Penguins’ region) or ESPN+ nationally.
And no matter how you watch it (or don’t), there’s always the Hockey Inside/Out liveblog and the About Last Night recap on Tuesday.
How Amazon is presenting the game
Amazon has promised pre-game, intermission and post-game segments for its Prime Monday Night Hockey broadcasts. On-air talent includes Adnan Virk hosting, Andi Petrillo reporting from rinkside, John Forslund on play-by-play, and analysts including Blake Bolden, Shane Hnidy, Thomas Hickey and Jody Shelley. Canadiens owner Geoff Molson will be a guest during the first intermission, live from Section M2 inside the Bell Centre.
Prime also promises a feature called Rapid Recap that will produce two-minute highlight reels using “machine learning” so people who tune in late can catch up.
Besides the Monday night games, Prime Video also has a show Thursday nights called NHL Coast to Coast, which will check in live with games around the league. Petrillo hosts that show.