The Montreal Canadiens were back to work on Monday night, getting ready for their duel with the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.
After a much-needed win against the New York Islanders on Saturday night, the Montreal Canadiens had a day off on Sunday and got back to work in Brossard on Monday morning. As always, Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov were on the second ice well before practice started at 10:30. The youngsters jumped on the ice with Adam Nicholas at 9:50 AM and worked on various drills before other players joined them.
At the other end of the ice, Marco Marciano was working with Jacob Fowler on the way he moves in the net before being joined by Jakub Dobes and Samuel Montembeault. There was a positioning drill in which all three goalies took part, before the focus shifted to practicing screened shots from far out. While both Fowler and Dobes did that drill, Montembeault served as the screen for the shooting players, and when we went back to the first ice to cover practice, the Becancour still hadn’t done the drill in net. Nobody can fault his professionalism; he’s doing everything that’s asked of him right now, even though it can’t be easy to be in his situation.
Once practice starter, Martin St-Louis put his men through various drills, including odd-man rushes, defensive transition, three-on-three play, and six-on-five action. Clearly, the coach expects the rest of the season to feature tight hockey, with teams pulling their goalies when needed, and he’s aware that the defensive game isn't completely on point.
Everyone was present and accounted for, even Josh Anderson, who was back but wearing a no-contact jersey, lending more credence to the idea that the upper-body ailment he’s dealing with may be a recurrence of his shoulder issues.
Practice lasted a short but intense 40 minutes, and plenty of players stayed on the ice afterwards, working on their game and their shot. Speaking for the first time after his disallowed goal against the Islanders, Zach Bolduc was asked if he was surprised to see that the goal was challenged by his former coach, Patrick Roy, and he explained:
Honestly, when I scored, I didn’t know there was an offside, but when I got to the bench, they told me that we were most probably offside on the play. I saw Patrick speak to the ref when he challenged for offside. I knew it wasn’t a good sign for me, but there’s no ill intent in his challenge; it was just funny.
When asked if he thought it was surprising with a score of 7-3 and with a minute and a half left, he added:
Yeah, but at the same time, if Patrick doesn’t challenge it, he could have been criticized for it by people on his side. It’s just part of the game.
Despite not having scored since December 23, Bolduc took things in his stride and believes good things will come. That’s the right attitude to have for the youngster, and it’s not like he’s not doing anything else on the ice.
The Canadiens will be back on the Bell Centre ice for a morning skate on Tuesday before taking on the Eastern Conference-leading Carolina Hurricanes in the evening.
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