OTTAWA – Martin St-Louis will count on one more experienced center for the visit of the Montreal Canadiens to the Canadian Tire Centre. Out for the last 13 games due to a lower body injury, Jake Evans will return to action.
If Evans returns to the game against the Ottawa Senators, forwards Kirby Dach and Patrik Laine will still wait their turn. The three attackers took part in training on Friday at the Bell Sensplex.
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“We will have decisions to make after the warm-up,” explained St-Louis. We have players with sores. »
Alexandre Texier and Josh Anderson, both absent from the last training session, are among the players who are hiding injuries.
Anderson missed six games with a mysterious upper-body injury before donning his team’s uniform for the last two outings against the Capitals in Washington and the Sabers in Buffalo.
At the blue line, CH will keep the same group of defenders. Jayden Struble will therefore watch a second match in a row from the press bridge.
Samuel Montembeault will be the starting goalie against Brady Tkachuk.
“Our goalies are playing well right now,” said St-Louis. They give us a chance to win in all our matches. We have to continue to play well in front of them, with details. »
St-Louis commented for the first time on the dismissal of Jacob Fowler with the Laval Rocket.
“He gained experience,” he noted. He now has a better understanding of the speed of the game and the reads he needs to make. You can’t buy this experience. He did a good job for us.
“It was a collective decision (Fowler’s return to the American League). All decisions are difficult. »
Still in third place in the Atlantic section, the Habs (26-15-7) will seek to widen their gap with the Senators (22-19-5), who are not in the playoff picture. Ten points separate the two teams, but the Sens have played two fewer games.
“It’s another important game for us,” recalled defenseman Noah Dobson. We played a pretty close game in Buffalo, but we need to work on some details. We want to end our trip on a good note. »
In the Senators camp, Tkachuk spoke again about the rivalry between the two teams.
“I expect an intense and emotional match,” said the captain. Both teams will want to win. It’s always nice to play against this team. I want to keep the same mentality for each of my matches, but there is always a special energy against Montreal. »
Planned training of Canadians
Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Alexandre Texier
Juraj Slafkovsky — Oliver Kapanen — Ivan Demidov
Zachary Bolduc — — Phillip Danault — Josh Anderson
Sammy Blais – Jake Evans — Brendan Gallagher
Mike Matheson — Noah Dobson
Lane Hutson — Alexandre Carrier
Kaiden Guhle — Arber Xhekaj
Samuel Montembeault
Jakub Dobes
Entrenched : Jayden Struble, Joseph Veleno*
Wounded : Patrik Laine (lower body), Kirby Dach (foot), Alex Newhook (ankle)
*No confirmation for Veleno removal. He could keep his place in the lineup depending on the state of health of other attackers.
Planned lineup of Senators
Fabian Zetterlund – Tim Stützle – Drake Batherson
Brady Tkachuk – Dylan Cozens – Ridly Greig
Michael Amadio – Shane Pinto – Claude Giroux
Nick Cousins – Lars Eller – David Perron
Jake Sanderson – Artem Zub
Thomas Chabot – Nick Jensen
Tyler Kleven – Jordan Spence
Levi Merilainen
James Reimer
Entrenched : Nikolas Matinpalo, Kurtis MacDermid, Linus Ullmark (personal reasons)
Hurt : None
