The Montreal Canadiens will be playing their third preseason game tonight, and Martin St-Louis is pulling no punches. For the first time, he’s going to be icing his full projected top six, his top defensive pairing, starter Samuel Montembeault, and Jacob Fowler.
That means that on Thursday night, against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Kirby Dach is going to see his first real action since sustaining yet another knee injury in February. There were rumours of setbacks this summer, and then, when camp started, he only took part in one of the three scrimmages, which of course prompted questions from the media. The coach said that there was a plan and he was sticking to it, before adding that Dach would see some preseason action.
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Asked what he thought about the big center so far at Camp, the pilot explained:
I think he’s really involved and intense. Now it’s time to play the game tonight, take one shift at a time, and make the plays the game calls for. Please get back into the swing of things, but we’ll continue to evaluate and stick to the plan we have for him. […] I wouldn’t call it a leash. I think Dacher is in a better place. He did things differently this summer, and I think he’s further along. So I think he will be more ready to get going right away.
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Turns out it’s time for that action now. While the bench boss said Dach was penciled in as the second-line center this season, he still needs to see what the Albertan center can offer and if some chemistry can bloom between him, Patrik Laine, and Ivan Demidov. Needless to say, everyone will be keeping an eye on that line when the puck drops on Thursday night.
Meanwhile, the Leafs have opted for a lineup that doesn’t include any of their marquee names, such as Auston Matthews, John Tavares, and Morgan Rielly. However, they are bringing along promising prospects Easton Cowan and Matias Maccelli, who might find their way into a top-six role. Former Hab Max Domi, who’s dealing with a lower-body injury, won’t be part of the roster, but there will be one former Canadien: Micheal Pezzetta. Cedric Pare, who injured Laine last year, will not be in the lineup.
As for the bottom of the Canadiens’ lineup, it will include two interesting young lines: Filip Mesar, Vinzenz Rohrer, and Joshua Roy will be skating together, while Florian Xhekaj will center Jared Davidson and Luke Tuch. It will be another opportunity for these young players to showcase their abilities.
On the blueline, David Reinbacher, who had a tough outing Tuesday, will be paired with Kaiden Guhle while Lane Hutson has a day off. Ryan O’Rourke and Nate Clurman will complete the defense corps.
It will be interesting to see if the Cola Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Juraj Slafkovsky line can perform as well as they did on Tuesday night. At practice on Thursday morning, Slafkovsky was wearing a full cage following the skate to the face he took in the game against the Philadelphia Flyers.
The puck drop is set for 7:00 PM, and this is the second-to-last home exhibition game. On Saturday, the Canadiens will face the Leafs again, this time in Toronto, before taking on the Ottawa Senators on September 30 in Quebec City and playing them again in Montreal on October 4.
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