NHL’s oldest rivals meet for another showdown today, as the Toronto Maple Leafs head to Bell Centre to take on the Montreal Canadiens. Though the rivalry isn’t nearly as fierce as usual, with Montreal dragging near the bottom of the East standings, it’s still always a must-watch game whenever these compatriots do battle against one another.
The game is about to start, at 7:00 p.m. ET, and will be televised on NHL Network in the United States. If you don’t have cable or don’t have that channel, there’s no shortage of options for watching a live stream of the game.
The Best Way to Watch Maple Leafs vs Canadiens
If you’re looking for some free options, you can find those in the next section. However, if you’re looking for the cheapest way to watch NHL Network long-term, then Sling TV is what you want.
The “Sling Orange” channel plan plus the “Sports Extra” add-on will get you NHL Network, as well as the NHL Network alternate channel, the ESPN channels, TNT and TBS. Not only is it the cheapest streaming service with those channels at $51 per month, but it’s currently on sale for just $31 for the first month.
And if you want even more value, Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, Starz, AMC+ and MGM+ are all available as add-ons, and they’re all free for the first month.
Is There a Free Maple Leafs vs Canadiens Live Stream?
If you just want to watch for free–no deals, no long-term benefits, no strings, just free, plain and simple–then you have two options at your disposal.
Option No. 1: The Fubo “Pro” channel plan plus the “Sports Plus with NFL RedZone” add-on will get you NHL Network, as well as about 200-plus other live-TV channels. You can watch for free for seven days when signing up, and then it will be $91 per month if you don’t cancel.
Option No. 2: DirecTV Stream has four different channel plans, but only “Ultimate” and “Premier” have NHL Network. Fortunately, you can pick any package you want with for your free five-day trial, but note that “Ultimate” is $120 per month if you let the trial end.
Watch Maple Leafs vs Canadiens on ESPN+
If you want the cheapest way to watch the most NHL as possible, ESPN+ is a no-brainer. At just $11 per month, you’ll get every single out-of-market NHL game. This includes games that are on NHL Network, such as this one. And since the local markets for this particular game are both in Canada, everyone in the US can watch this one live on ESPN+.
Unfortunately there’s no free trial, but you can save some money by either getting ESPN+ for a year for $110, or by bundling it with Hulu and Disney+ for $15 per month. With hundreds of NHL games, as well as other live sports, 30-for-30 documentaries and more original on-demand content, the price is well worth it no matter what option you choose.
Watch the Maple Leafs vs Canadiens Live Stream from Abroad
All of these options, of course, will only work for watching the game if you’re located in the United States. That is, unless your network “thinks” you’re in the United States. That’s where a virtual private network (VPN) comes into play, as it masks your IP address and connects you to a server in a different country, allowing you to access online content that is restricted to that country even if you’re not actually physically there.
NordVPN would be our choice, as it doesn’t limit your bandwidth speeds and it works with all of the aforementioned streaming services. While it doesn’t have a typical free trial, it does offer your money back within 30 days if you decide you don’t want it.
