The Canadiens will take on the Maple Leafs tonight at the Bell Centre in their last meeting before the home opener on October, 9.
After taking on a real version of the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Scotiabank Arena on Thursday night, tonight the real Montreal Canadiens will take on a watered down version of the Leafs. Half an hour before practice was set to start, Patrik Laine started skating and taking shots, soon joined by Mike Matheson and Cole Caufield, working on passing plays and fake shots.
Tonight's lines will look as follows for the Habs:
Cole Caufield-Nick Suzuki-Juraj Slafkovsky
Alex Newhook-Kirby Dach-Patrik Laine
Joshua Roy-Owen Beck-Josh Anderson
Jared Davidson-Lucas Condotta-Sean Farrel
Mike Matheson-David Reinbacher
David Savard-Lane Hutson
Arber Xhekaj-Logan Mailloux
While Cayden Primeau and Samuel Montembeault will be sharing the net.
Asked about Toronto's lineup and whether there was a bit of a trap there since he will be icing a near full NHL roster, coach Martin St-Louis explained:
We concentrate on ourselves, that's all we do. When I told the guys the lineup this morning, I didn't know who was playing for Toronto.
On Arber Xhekaj's camp, St-Louis had this to say:
I think he's getting his timing back. He missed some time last season again, that's two years in a row he doesn't play full seasons, we have to keep bringing him to where we want him to be. It's day-to-day, his attitude and his work ethic are excellent, he just needs to find his marks again.
Understandably, St-Louis refused to confirm if Xhekaj would be in his top-six defensemen if the season was starting tonight "I'm not answering that, we have 10 defensemen here" said the coach.
Tonight, the Leafs' biggest names will be first-round pick Easton Cowan, second-round pick Matthews Knies and defenseman Simon Benoit. Puck drop is set for 7:00 PM ET and tonight will be the first game in which the Canadiens will be deploying both of their top two lines and using the real power play units we saw yesterday at practice. Once again this morning, Kaiden Guhle skated on his own, this time after practice had ended.
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