The preseason will truly get underway tonight as the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs will battle each other in both towns.
The new CBA now allows split-squad games, so tonight, half of the Montreal Canadiens will skate at the Bell Centre while the other half takes on the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena. The Leafs have already released their lineups for the two games, and unsurprisingly, their big names are staying home and facing the Canadiens’ B Team.
In other words, Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies, Gavin McKenna, William Nylander, John Tavares and Darren Raddysh will all be skating in Toronto and facing the goaltending duo of Samuel Montembeault and Kaapo Kahkonen.
Who will be making the trip to Montreal? The biggest names up front are Easton Cowan, Teddy Blueger, and Nick Paul, along with former Hab Michael Pezzetta. On the blueline, Oliver Ekman-Larsson will lead the visitors’ defense corps. As for the netminders, Samuel Hlavaj, Artur Akhtyamov and Ken Appleby will be making the trip to Montreal.
Meanwhile, the Canadiens will ice Group A at the Bell Centre, featuring Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Kris Kreider, Juraj Slafkovsky, Ivan Demidov, and Lane Hutson. In net, Jakub Dobes and Jacob Fowler will be on hand for the first exhibition home game. Fowler was the first netminder off the ice, but Martin St-Louis confirmed his goalies will split the game, just like they will in Toronto.
The Coach put Group A through its paces for 30 minutes, running the Canadiens’ usual morning-skate drills as they prepared to face the Leafs tonight. Speaking ahead of his first game as a Canadien, Chris Kreider:
I mean, I expect to play probably with everyone over the course of the season; it’s just generally how it goes. I think the best thing for me is being able to talk to those guys. I know Cole through a few other guys, and Nick is one of the team's veterans, playing in all situations. It’s great to pick their brains; for me, it’s just playing my game, doing the things I do well, and complementing the players around me.
Asked if there was anything he’d be focusing on in his first game, he played down expectations:
I’m going to make mistakes; I think we probably all are, but the biggest thing is doing it fast, I think- mess up at this speed, trusting myself, making reads, and if they’re the wrong reads, now’s the time to do it right? If I’m going to screw up, now's the time to do it right? And then learning from it, building, and making sure it doesn’t happen when the two points are truly on the line.
Kreider’s ability to tip pucks in front of the net, plus his big body, should come in handy for the Canadiens this season. Defenseman Hutson certainly won’t mind his presence on the first line or in front of the net:
Yeah, they've got it all. They've got skill, speed, and some size, so I'm excited to see how they gel. Chris is such a smart player; he plays intelligently, knows where to go on the ice. I'm excited to see how they gel. […] I mean, I know where he’s going to be- at the net front. Something kind of tells me he’ll be there, so I know, but he’s pretty gifted at it [tipping pucks], and he works at it, and I’m excited to continue to work at it with him.
All eyes will likely be on the Bell Centre tonight as Kreider makes his Canadiens' debut. You can catch that game on RDS while you can catch the game in Toronto on RDS Info, but games are set to start at 7:00 PM.
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