After a much-deserved day off in which they went golfing in the Quebec City suburbs, the Montreal Canadiens were back on the Centre Videotron ice for a practice open to the public on Thursday morning.
Habs fans everywhere let out a collective sigh of relief when Ivan Demidov jumped on the ice, confirming that there was no lasting damage from Ottawa Senators’ forward Nick Cousins’ slash. Martin St-Louis was probably wise enough to pull him out of the game to prevent any other attempts on the youngster once his most gritty players were out of the game.
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Clearly, the bench boss liked what he saw in Quebec, as those were the lines deployed at practice:
Cole Caufield-Nick Suzuki-Juraj Slafkovsky
Zack Bolduc-Kirby Dach-Brendan Gallagher
Alex-Newhook- Oliver Kapanen-Ivan Demidov
Joe Veleno-Owen Beck-Patrik Laine
Samuel Blais- Jack Evans (Florian Xhekaj)- Josh Anderson
The last line was the one wearing a dark blue jersey, perhaps indicating that they won’t be in the lineup on Saturday night. Should that be the case, it would mean that Blais didn’t get to play either of the last two preseason games. That may mean the organization already knows what he can bring to the table and which role he should have on the team.
On the blueline, St-Louis reverted to the pairing that started camp; it seems he doesn’t feel like change is needed there:
Mike Matheson-Noah Dobson
Kaiden Guhle-Lane Hutson
Arber Xhekaj-Alex Carrier
Jayden Struble-Adam Engstrom
In all likelihood, this means that the Guhle and Dobson’s tweaked groins are now fine, and the coach is looking to give them another game to click with their partner. Yet another indication that even though Jayden had an audition alongside Carrier on Tuesday night, A. Xhekaj still leads in the fight for the sixth defenseman spot.
For those worrying about the fact that the Senators recalled eight AHL players from the Belleville Senators’ camp, do not worry, Ottawa is dressing them tonight for a game against the Saint-Louis Blues. Just like the Canadiens, the Senators will be playing their last preseason game on Saturday night and will be looking to get in these previous few reps for their regular players, at least that’s the hope.
Both Cousins and Hayden Hodgson were fined following the events that occurred in the last game between the two teams. Given the fact that Cousins’ slash came after the Xhekaj brothers were ejected from the game, chances are that if the Sens’ player is in the lineup, he could have to face the consequence of his actions.
The Canadiens will stay in Quebec until Friday afternoon and hold another public practice at the Centre Videotron on Friday morning before returning to Montreal. Then, on Saturday, they’ll be having their morning skate at the Bell Center for the first time since the start of the camp.
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