After getting obliterated by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night, the Montreal Canadiens made their way to Toronto after their morning skate, looking for revenge. It won’t be the same lineup that suffered the beating on Thursday, however. Martin St-Louis has elected to leave most of his regular lineup at home and take several youngsters to the game, which makes sense since the team has already announced that a round of cuts will follow Saturday night’s game.
Oliver Kapanen will get yet another audition on the right of Alex Newhook and Zack Bolduc, while Owen Beck will play alongside Samuel Blais and Joe Veleno. Alex Belzile will center Sean Farrell and Tyler Thorpe, while Riley Kidney will form a line with Laurent Dauphin and Lucas Condotta.
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At the back, Kaiden Guhle, Noah Dobson, and David Reinbacher won’t be suiting up, nor did they practice with the early group, which makes sense given their injury status. Once again, Arber Xhekaj will be forming a pairing with Alex Carrier, as Lane Hutson’ll play on the right with Jayden Struble, and Adam Engstrom will be paired with Marc Del Gaizo.
It’s telling that Struble will be playing with Hutson, and it doesn’t bode well for the Northeastern alums. The coach clearly plans to play Hutson alongside Guhle this season, and since the latter is injured, Struble gets to fill in. Meanwhile, Xhekaj gets to play yet another game with Carrier; they have formed a pair in all the scrimmages and games they played. Asked to comment on his pairing with Xhekaj, Carrier said:
It's going well; I think he got here in super-shape, having worked hard this summer. I already find him faster than last year; he has matured as well. We communicate well, and we have a good relationship. So far, it’s going very well.- Carrier on his pairing with Xhekaj
With cuts looming, one can expect the end of the experimenting stage to be in sight, and Struble has yet to get a single game with a player who’s guaranteed an NHL role. In his only preseason game, he skated with Engstrom, and tonight, he’ll serve as a placeholder for Guhle.
If the Leafs showed up to Montreal with a lineup devoid of stars, tonight won’t be the case. Playing at home, they’ve decided to get some of the big guns out; John Tavares, William Nylander, Matthew Knies, Max Domi, and Nicholas Roy were all taking reps on regular lines while Auston Matthews was practicing with the game group but without being included on a line.
On the backend, Morgan Rielly, Jake McCabe, Chris Tanev, Brandon Carlo, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson will all be suiting up. Asked if that lineup was a challenge for a vet like him, considering there will be a lot of young guys dressed for the Canadiens, Carrier explained:
Of course, we’re still in training camp, even if we’re going there with a younger group; everyone has something to prove, and everyone wants to make an impact. There are no better opportunities than playing against a big team, especially on the road. I’m excited for tonight, and I’m looking forward to seeing what we’ll do.- Carrier on taking on a big Leafs lineup
As for free agent signing Joe Veleno, he was asked what he wants to show the organization tonight and replied:
I just want to play my game, keep it simple, play with energy, physicality, and utilize my speed everywhere on the ice. Using my best attributes.- Veleno on what he wants to show the organization
Tonight will be the Canadiens’ fourth preseason game, and as things stand, I believe Kapanen has got the inside lane to play alongside Bolduc and Newhook, but Beck isn’t far behind. The puck is set to drop at 7:00 PM and can be watched on RDS.
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