The Canadian | Jake Allen back, Brett Kulak injured

Jake Allen a officiellement reçu le feu vert et il sera à son poste devant le filet du Canadien mercredi, à Washington.

Guillaume Lefrançois
La Presse

C’est ce qu’a confirmé l’entraîneur-chef du Tricolore, Dominique Ducharme, après l’entraînement de mardi.

Allen a subi une commotion cérébrale le 13 novembre, quand il a été victime d’une violente collision avec l’attaquant des Red Wings Dylan Larkin.

« Le jeu est tellement rapide, ce l’est trop pour s’arrêter et se tasser. Je ne pense pas que c’était intentionnel, il voulait foncer au filet et si j’avais été dans ses souliers, j’aurais fait la même chose », a assuré Allen.

Le cas du Néo-Brunswickois a toutefois démontré l’utilité du protocole des commotions cérébrales de la LNH, car il assure qu’il se sentait bien sur le coup, malgré la force de l’impact.

« Je savais que si je restais étendu, on me retirerait du match. Mais les observateurs indépendants [de la LNH] did their job and took me out of the game. Looking back, it was the right thing to do. While doing the tests, there were things that were wrong. “

For his return to the game, Allen will be treated to quite a challenge in the person of Alexander Ovechkin, a guy who has not consulted his baptistery for a while, it seems. Despite his 36 years, the Russian is on his way to having the most productive season of his career with 15 goals and 15 assists for 30 points in 19 games.

How to counter it? “If anyone figured that out, he would probably win a Nobel Prize,” Allen joked. They have several power-play threats, so even if you neutralize it, they can fight you with other weapons. He’s a maverick. He and Patrik Laine have the best receiving shots in the league. Often there is a curve in his shots. He does things that few players can do. “

Without Kulak

Allen will return to the game and Cédric Paquette is approaching a comeback. Ducharme, however, assured that Ryan Poehling would remain in the center of the fourth line even if the Gaspésien is ready.

What good news for the Habs in the infirmary, then? Not so fast. Absent from training on Monday, Brett Kulak made a brief appearance on the ice on Tuesday, only to retreat to the locker room. It will ultimately not be the trip of three games in four days that the Montrealers will make in Washington, Buffalo and Pittsburgh. Kulak is injured in the lower body.

His absence should therefore allow Mattias Norlinder to continue his hearing. The Swede again formed a duet with David Savard in training.

Kulak has 5 assists in 20 games this season, and is showing a -5 rating. He plays an average of 16:22 per game.