Canadiens: Kapanen Back At Practice
The Montreal Canadiens were back on the ice on Thursday, and so was Oliver Kapanen.
After a day off on Wednesday, the Montreal Canadiens returned to the ice Thursday afternoon, getting ready for their tilt with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night. The Habs flew right to Pittsburgh after their win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night and spent their day off doing team-building activities. Asked why it was important to do that, Martin St-Louis explained:
Because it’s an opportunity when there’s a break in a schedule like that, especially early on and when we didn’t have the opportunity to do it during training camp. It’s to…I know we have a very tight-knit group, but it’s to have opportunities to get even tighter. It doesn’t guarantee it, but if you don’t do it, you don’t even have the opportunity. So we’ve got some activities here where we can have some fun, and we’re working at the same time.
As for practice itself, the coach explained that it wasn’t so much about teaching as it was about working, putting in effort, and raising the heart rate. After missing the first game of the season, centerman Oliver Kapanen was back on the ice, wearing a normal jersey and fully participating in the session. Will he be back in the lineup this weekend? That remains to be seen, as the coach said he didn’t know yet.
At practice, the lines and pairings were as follows:
Caufield - Suzuki - Kreider
Slafkovsky - Newhook - Demidov
Texier/Kapanen - Danault - Dach
Bolduc - Evans - Anderson/F. Xhekaj
Matheson-Dobson
Hutson-Carrier
Struble-A. Xhekaj
Guhle (no contact)-Engstrom
Alex Newhook played well in Kapanen's spot on Tuesday, but the line he formed with Juraj Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov failed to put points on the board. Still, the Newfoundlander spent over 16 minutes on the ice, including 2:31 on the penalty kill and 1:24 on the power play. He had three shot attempts, only one of which got to the net, and he landed three hits; more importantly, he won seven of his nine draws for a 77.8% success rate.
If the Finn does return to the lineup, one can wonder whether he will land back on the second line. That’s where he started training camp, but he didn’t have a very productive preseason; still, the coach seemed to want to give him another chance after he scored 22 goals in his rookie season. It would therefore be surprising if he wasn’t even given a look in a single regular-season game before being unseated.
As for who would come out of the lineup, it would likely be between Kirby Dach and Alexandre Texier. While Dach had a good game on Tuesday, Texier does play on the power play, so that could be the deciding factor; time will tell.
The Canadiens will practice at 11:00 AM on Friday and face the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday at 7:00 PM. The Pens will hope to build on the momentum from their first game, when they beat the Philadelphia Flyers 7-0 on the road.
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