The Montreal Canadiens will face the Ottawa Senators at the Colisée de Trois-Rivières on Monday, and the coaching staff is keeping its cards close to its chest.
After two wins in one night against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Montreal Canadiens were back at work at the CN Sports Complex in Brossard. A few players weren’t on the ice following Saturday night’s games: Jake Evans, Lucas Condotta and Alexandre Carrier. As a result, Dillan Bentley and Josh Nadeau joined Group A for practice while Laurent Dauphin joined Group B.
While some players will head to Trois-Rivières on Monday to play in the Kraft Hockeyville game against the Ottawa Senators, the lineup still hasn’t been confirmed. One can imagine that Samuel Montembeault and Zachary Bolduc, as the local heroes, will likely make the trip.
For Montembeault, it would be a perfect opportunity to build on his performance against the Leafs in Toronto. Although he hadn’t played a competitive game in six months, the Becancour native stopped 13 shots against the Leafs’ top players and didn’t look rusty at all. He was glad to hear he would be playing against Toronto’s big team on Saturday:
I was a little nervous before the game, but they got a power play right away, which let me shake off the nerves and move really well. The guys did an excellent job on the penalty kill in our zone, which helped me as well. They had really good players on the other side, and we face them often this season since they play in our division, so it was a good first test.
Seeing some action so close to home would be special for the netminder, and he would enjoy it:
We don’t have the lineup yet for tomorrow, Martin said it should be out in an hour or so, but it would certainly be a lot of fun. I have a house five minutes away from the rink. When I go to Trois-Rivières, I'm always driving by. I’ve been to see Lions games over there; it would be really fun, and I’m sure a lot of friends and family will be there to watch. It’s going to be really good for the community as well.
Both Groups A and B were put through their paces on Sunday with a 45-minute skate that featured plenty of offensive drills and was quite trying for the goaltenders. The team didn’t reveal who will play in Trois-Rivières tomorrow, so we may need to wait for the Canadiens’ red carpet arrival, scheduled for 9:00 AM, to find out. As for the Senators, their arrival is scheduled for 8:00-8:30 AM, and both teams will practice at the Colisée, the Sens at 10:15 AM and the Habs at 11:15 AM.
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