Without Slafkvosky, the CH attack the Wall of Stars

It’s all well and good, scoring six goals against the Arizona Coyotes. Facing the Dallas Stars, it might be a little more complicated.

Simon Olivier Lorange
The Press

The Habs will face this Saturday the poorest team in the NHL. Barely six goals conceded in four games. Goalkeeper Jake Oettinger is of course in a state of grace, but the defense in front of him doesn’t give much either.

Martin St-Louis therefore underlined in broad strokes the importance of spending as much time as possible in the offensive zone. “Having the puck will have a lot of value,” summed up the head coach of the Canadiens. You have to stretch the time you spend” in opposing territory. “You have to be patient,” he added, further warning his men against high-risk games. That said, the Stars pose a moderate five-to-five threat; the Texans are, however, very effective on the power play so far this season – 28.6% efficiency.

“It will be a big challenge,” said defender David Savard, after his club’s morning training. In fact, the Stars still haven’t lost in 60 minutes since the start of the season.

“They have a lot of experience and speed on offense,” Savard said. They won’t give us much time. We will have to stick to simple youngsters and generate a lot of shots on net. »

Jake Allen will be the starting goaltender for the Habs.

Slafkovsky injured

Absent in size – literally and symbolically – Juraj Slafkovsky will not be in uniform against the Stars. The rookie injured his “upper body” and his condition will be reassessed “day by day”. Rem Pitlick will replace him in training.

The latter has been left out in his team’s last three games. Saturday evening, he will find his accomplice Jake Evans on the fourth line, which will be completed by Mike Hoffman.

No one will be surprised to learn that Pitlick was eager to get his chance — “I love hockey, I want to play,” he said. He also received flowers from his captain for his attitude and his presence in the entourage of the team even when he was away from training.

“Honestly, all the guys that aren’t playing are amazing,” Suzuki said, referring mostly to Pitlick and Michael Pezzetta, who still hasn’t played a game this season.

“They work extremely hard, they put in extra time after practice, and they bring a good mood even if it’s hard to be sidelined when the team is playing well. »

In addition, defender Joel Edmundson and forward Joel Armia, who are on the injured list, skated with their teammates for the first time in quite a while. They were dressed in jerseys excluding them from contact, a sign that their return to play is not imminent.

Neither has played a game yet this season. Edmundson suffered a back injury just before training camp, and no timeline has been released to the public. As for Armia, he injured his “upper body” during the preparatory calendar. It was established on October 10 that he would miss one to two weeks of activities.