After the Dallas Stars [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/dallas-stars] obliterated the Montreal Canadiens [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens] on Thursday night at the Bell Centre, Martin St-Louis had set a practice at 11:30 on Friday morning for his men. Still, at 10:00, two players were already jumping on the ice. No, they weren’t Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov but Brendan Gallagher and Jake Evans. Offensive production has been harrowing to come by so far this season for the two veterans, and they joined Adam Nicholas on the ice for some skills coaching. With both nets put together at the same end of the ice, the players had to practice their saucer passes above a row of pucks and then take backhand shots. Clearly, the row of pucks filled in for a goaltender’s stick aimed to recreate an in-game scenario. Canadiens: St-Louis Speaks On The Eve Of His 300th Game [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/latest-news/canadiens-st-louis-speaks-on-the-eve-of-his-300th-game] Canadiens Collapse In Biggest Defeat Since Last December [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/latest-news/canadiens-collapse-in-biggest-defeat-since-last-december] Canadiens: Kent Hughes Inquires About Big Forward [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/latest-news/canadiens-kent-hughes-inquires-about-big-forward] Then, one of the two goals was put flat on the ice in front of the other, and one of the two players was dishing out passes from behind the net, while Nicholas was putting some shots on the net of the cage that was laid flat on the ice to simulate rebounds from the goalie. Obviously, the second player was in front, trying to score on both the passes and the makeshift rebounds. Finally, with the nets remaining in the same position, one of the two players moved to the blueline, taking wrist shots from far out, while the other had to tip them past the goal that was lying flat on the ice. Each of the mini drills lasted around 10 minutes and given that Gallagher is still looking for his first goal of the season, while Evans has only two lamplighters (one was an empty net). The alternate captain is in the second-to-last year of his contract and has 239 goals in 851 career games, the 15th-highest total in Canadiens history. He’s only four goals away from Mats Naslund, who’s 14th with 243. Having played every game this season so far, Gallagher remains on target to play 1,000 games with the Canadiens in the last game of the 2026-27 season, providing he stays healthy, of course. -net goal), the extra work may come in handy. As for Evans, he’s in his first year of his new four-year contract with a $2,85 million cap hit, and so far, this season, the coach has yet to find a perfect fit for his fourth line. Joe Veleno doesn’t seem like the right man to skate with Evans and Josh Anderson, but who is? With Gallagher currently playing with Kirby Dach and Zachary Bolduc, technically, he’s out of the running. Still, everything could change with Alex Newhook’s injury, since the coach will be forced to go back to the drawing board. The only other players who skated at the optional skate were Hutson, IDemidov, Oliver Kapanen and Zachary Bolduc. The rest of the team did off-ice training, and at the time of writing, there was no news on Newhook's injury or a call-up from the Laval Rocket. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Karine on X @KarineHains [https://x.com/KarineHains] Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/karinehains.bsky.social] and Threads @karinehains [https://www.threads.net/@karinehains]. Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/] for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens. Join the discussion by signing up to the Canadiens' roundtable [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens] on The Hockey News. Subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free [https://thehockeynews.store/products/print-subscription]. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here [http://eepurl.com/i7OC4I].
