Montreal Canadiens coach Martin St-Louis was clear when training camp opened: he wants his team to be ready to start the season. The edge, the intensity, has to be there as soon as possible, and it shows in the lineup selected for this first preseason game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The bench boss has decided to use two of his regular lines, well, almost, the sole exception being Kirby Dach, who gets a night off. The Habs are sticking to the plan and not rushing their second-line center, even though he looked absolutely fine in scrimmage. While the Albertan recovers, Oliver Kapinen will center Patrik Laine and Ivan Demidov. He won’t be there to start the season, but it still allows the youngster to show what he can do playing alongside such talented players.
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The second line will feature Josh Anderson, Jake Evans, and Brendan Gallagher. The wingers played together last season, but were centered by Christian Dvorak, who left in free agency. That shouldn’t be a big adjustment, as they have skated together at various times in the past.
Owen Beck will center the third line, flanked by Sean Farrell and Filip Mesar, while Jared Davidson, Lucas Condotta, and Alex Belzile will form the fourth line.
On the blueline, the first pairing of Mike Matheson and Noah Dobson will get its first trial run against real opponents, although the Penguins’ lineup won’t be that impressive. Jayden Struble will skate alongside Adam Engstrom, who has been good so far in this training camp but is destined for Laval, at least for now. Given how well Arber Xhekaj has done so far, it looks like Struble is penciled in as the seventh defenseman, but he won’t be playing. I'm worried about it:
It's nothing I haven’t been through before. I’m not going to be afraid to make mistakes, because you don’t play good hockey that way. I’m going to try to play loose, but obviously with urgency and intent. If I mess up and get sat, I’ve been sat before, so I’ll be back and be better. I’m not going to grip my stick too tight or anything. I know how to play the game, and I’m going to try to do what I ought to do.
As for the third pairing, it will be formed by Marc DelGaizo and Nathan Clurman. St-Louis explained what he expected from his men in these terms tonight:
It’s the first game tonight, and this group has the opportunity to set the tone tonight. I think so far at camp, the scrimmages have been real hockey. It’s important to get those reps; we have to play with the same intensity, so that’s what I expect. As I always say, the urgency is now, it’s good reps, we need to do them for real, we don’t have time to wait for October 8th, it’s today.- St-Louis on his expectations
The coach was also asked about the power play units that were featured in Brossard on Sunday, and he had this to say:
I think we’re going to get steered in a direction. It’s hard to work on your real two units in game one of the preseason, but you try to put pieces where you feel they would most likely be in that spot, whether you change a unit or not. I feel like I have a lot of flexibility, we have more talent, you know, so it’s a puzzle, and there’s more than one way to do it. We’re going to keep evaluating, but we’re trying to put guys in situations where they’re most likely going to be, and we’ll figure out that puzzle as we go.- St-Louis on the power play
Pressed about whether it was important to him to keep his even strength lines intact on the power play, the coach explained:
For exhibition games, I’d say yes. If your power play is excellent, the guys are happy where they are, and they are playing on the same line, it makes it easier for me to manage the lines and chemistry. That’s the perfect scenario. But it’s impossible always to get that; when you have that, it’s a blessing. […] Will our first power play be more effective and give us a better chance to win if we mix up the lines? If so, we’ll go with that. But for sure, it would be ideal to have two units that don’t muddle the lines, and they’re all happy about the spot they’re in, but I approach this knowing I’m not sure that’s what’s going to happen.- St-Louis on keeping linemates together
In other words, as things stand at this preliminary stage, he’ll try to keep his even-strength lines together and add a couple of players to make up his power play units, but he’s well aware that it may not be possible during the season. The fact that Demidov is taking reps on what is pencilled in as the second unit doesn’t mean that will be the case when St-Louis has got his entire lineup to work with.
Samuel Montembeault will get the start tonight and split the game with Jacob Fowler, regardless of the outcome. The puck drop is set for 7:00 PM, so if you plan to attend the game, leave early. Due to the STM strike, getting to the arena tonight could be tricky, with heavy traffic expected.
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