{"time":1758641959808,"blocks":[{"id":"OXzfTE_bjW","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Fans who made their way to the Bell Centre to watch the\nMontreal Canadiens on Monday night got to see Ivan Demidov and new defenseman\nNoah Dobson. On Tuesday, they’ll see the top line: Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki,\nand Juraj Slafkovsky, the second pair of defensemen, which consists of Kaiden\nGuhle and Lane Hutson, and both Xhekaj brothers. For the first time, Arber and\nFlorian Xhekaj will be suiting up for the same team. "}},{"id":"NMIotT6ay2","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Alex Newhook, Samuel Bolduc, and Joshua Roy will be forming\nthe second line. This is a big opportunity for the St-Georges native. Unlike\nOliver Kapanen, who only served as a placeholder for Kirby Dach on Monday, Roy\nwill be skating in a role that’s actually available. After a great summer of\ntraining, Roy shed 16 pounds and, as a result, he’s much faster on his skates. "}},{"id":"mfwpsvuk","type":"video","data":{"url":"https://media-cdn.roundtable.io/media-service/videos/0507e9ab-65ca-4959-83e0-9568a6a82b85/mp4","caption":"","autoplay":false,"controls":true,"muted":false,"stretched":true,"width":0,"height":0,"image":{"url":"https://media-cdn.roundtable.io/media-service/videos/0507e9ab-65ca-4959-83e0-9568a6a82b85/thumbnail"},"cdn":{"videoId":"0507e9ab-65ca-4959-83e0-9568a6a82b85","libraryId":"372172","collectionId":"30032062-eefd-4041-a355-12ad05bc987b","cdnBaseUrl":"https://vz-052fc010-b27.b-cdn.net","mp4Url":"https://media-cdn.roundtable.io/media-service/videos/0507e9ab-65ca-4959-83e0-9568a6a82b85/mp4","thumbnailUrl":"https://media-cdn.roundtable.io/media-service/videos/0507e9ab-65ca-4959-83e0-9568a6a82b85/thumbnail","previewAnimationUrl":"https://vz-052fc010-b27.b-cdn.net/0507e9ab-65ca-4959-83e0-9568a6a82b85/preview.webp"}}},{"id":"_1FbEkGGJH","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Strong Goaltending Display Leads To Shootout Win
Canadiens: Fowler Cool As A Cucumber
Canadiens: Lineup Shows St-Louis Means Business"}},{"id":"u1D3yl5Phk","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Samuel Blais, Joe Veleno, and Austrian winger Vinzenz Rohrer\nwill form the third line while the younger Xhekaj will center Luke Tuch and Tyler\nThorpe, a line that could do a lot of damage in Laval, should the three start\nthe season there. "}},{"id":"-EcHJ9cf97","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"On the blue line, the older Xhekaj and Alex Carrier will be\nthe second pairing behind Guhle and Hutson, and David Reinbacher will suit up\nwith Tobie Paquette-Bisson. While some would probably like to see Reinbacher get\na chance in the NHL this season, the youngster isn’t ripe for the show yet. The\nknee injury he sustained last year didn’t help his development, even though the\nCanadiens kept him involved in team meetings and video sessions; there’s\nnothing like actually playing the games. "}},{"id":"DIjpw3596U","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"In net, Jakub Dobes and Kaapo Kahkonen will split the games\nlike Samuel Montembeault and Jacob Fowler did on Monday against the Pittsburgh\nPenguins. As for the visiting Philadelphia Flyers, they won’t be dressing Russian-born\nMatvei Michkov, who played in Sunday’s game and featured in the highlight reels\nfor the wrong reason when first-overall pick at the last draft, Matthew\nSchaefer, stopped him on a breakaway. "}},{"id":"3dh5T8ERvv","type":"embed","data":{"service":"twitter","source":"https://x.com/BR_OpenIce/status/1970129179925692702","embed":"https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?id=1970129179925692702","width":600,"height":300,"caption":""}},{"id":"fJhWJHQ3E0","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"There will be at least a couple of familiar faces wearing\norange, though. Christian Dvorak, who left the Canadiens in free agency this\nsummer, will return to his old stomping ground, and another former Hab, tough\nguy Nicolas Deslauriers, will also be in the lineup. Other big names who will\nsuit up for the Flyers include Sean Couturier, Owen Tippett, and Travis\nSanheim. "}},{"id":"npCOSX3JO4","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"If Deslauriers wants to rough someone up, he can expect plenty\nof opposition; the Xhekaj brothers, Thuch, and Thorpe all play with a physical\nedge. It’s been some time since a pair of brothers suited up for the Canadiens;\nthe last ones to do so were Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn in 2007-08."}},{"id":"pkmLGZ9I1P","type":"delimiter","data":{}},{"id":"M2KibdWqwp","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains."}},{"id":"vZFJ89WAVS","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens."}},{"id":"IGyxgC1wbV","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Join the discussion by signing up to the Canadiens' roundtable on The Hockey News."}}],"version":"2.31.0"}

Canadiens: The First Line And A Double Helping Of Xhekaj