(Mont-Tremblant) The wave of injuries to star players across the four corners of the NHL has prompted teams to exercise caution for their final preparatory games. The Canadian is no exception. Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky and Kirby Dach will not face the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.
We can expect other veterans, like defenseman Mike Matheson, for example, to also skip their turn, but head coach Martin St-Louis stuck to confirming the absence of his first trio and Dach. The organization will recall players from the Laval Rocket in the afternoon.
On Network of the evening match.
The trend is strong in the Bettman circuit: the Senators themselves recalled seven players before facing the Detroit Red Wings on Friday. This Saturday, the Boston Bruins recalled eight, and the Chicago Blackhawks, nine.
Several high-caliber skaters have fallen in action in the league over the past few days – Patrik Laine, Drew Doughty and Artemi Panarin, among others. In addition to Laine, the CH also lost the services of David Reinbacher for several months.
Usually, the last game of the preparatory schedule pitted almost complete NHL teams against each other. Clearly, that is not the case this year.
In a short press scrum, St-Louis affirmed Saturday morning that he saw himself obliged to “adapt” to a situation that no one wanted.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Martin St-Louis
Ideally, I would have preferred to have my complete training. But with everything that happened in the league during the preseason, I don’t want to take any chances.
Martin St-Louis, head coach of the Montreal Canadiens
The head coach wonders if the phenomenon that is currently occurring is one-off or if a “trend” is taking hold. He hopes that this last scenario does not materialize. If that were the case, he wouldn’t really see a solution that would be “fair” for everyone, while veterans want to find their rhythm before the start of the season and young players want to show their know-how to win. a position.
Tension
On a more local level, the recent duel between the Canadian and the Senators, last Tuesday, saw the tension between the two rivals rise a notch. Ridly Greig sneakily hit Kirby Dach, and the two threw down the gloves at the end of the match. Arber Xhekaj was sent off following a hit on Tim Stützle. The restart showed that, contrary to what we thought we had seen, the Montreal defender did not hit the German in the head. Regardless, Xhekaj then got into a fight with Brady Tkachuk… who appeared to get injured during the fight.
We can imagine that there will be electricity in the air on Saturday evening, especially since Xhekaj will be in uniform. It is unclear, however, whether Greig, who played Friday in Detroit, will be there.
PHOTO RYAN REMIORZ, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Arber Xhekaj (72) solidly checked Tim Stützle (18) during the October 1 match between the Canadian and the Ottawa Senators.
“I wish he played a full match! “, exclaimed Martin St-Louis about Xhekaj. The defender was in fact expelled from the last two matches after receiving major penalties. The pilot will also instruct his men to concentrate primarily on the match itself.
“I ask the whole group to be smart, play a tough but honest match and move on. »
Kaiden Guhle, who has not yet played a preparatory match, will be there, as will attackers Emil Heineman, Oliver Kapanen and Alex Barré-Boulet, who are still fighting for the last available positions.
Samuel Montembeault, for his part, will be automatically for the entire game in front of the net.
Where to watch the match?
The Ottawa Senators welcome the Montreal Canadiens to the Canadian Tire Centre. The game is broadcast from 7 p.m. on RDS.