After undergoing knee surgery on November 15th, Paul Byron was back at practice this morning skating on the 4th line alongside Nate Thompson and Riley Barber. This confirmed why Ryan Poehling was sent back to Laval yesterday even though he had played a solid game on Wednesday against the Sens. The rest of the line-up remains unchanged.
Tatar - Danault - Gallagher Lehkonen - Domi - Armia Cousins - Suzuki - Weal Byron - Thompson - Barber
Chiarot - Weber Kulak - Petry Leskinen - Fleury Reilly - Folin
Price Primeau
For those who are upset with Poehling being sent back to Laval (yes there are plenty on social media), don't be. He's young and he needs a lot of ice time which he wouldn't get on the Canadiens' fourth line. Besides, even with a bad start to the season, Paul Byron brings a lot of speed to the Habs line-up and that will help.
Tomorrow's visitors at the Bell Centre, the Detroit Red Wings, are dead last in the league with 19 points and had been winless in 12 games before they finally managed to win 5-2 against the Jets last night. Hopefully, the Canadiens will seize this opportunity to put 2 points in the bank and give the fans a great Christmas present as tomorrow's game is dubbed "Christmas at the Bell Centre". No word yet on who will be in net but Carey Price would be the logical choice. Speaking of Price, Primeau had this to say about his retrieving the puck taken by Brady Tkachuk:
#Habs Primeau on Price retrieving the puck after #Sens Tkachuk scooped the mememto of Cayden’s 1st win on Wednesday: “That means so much. He probably doesn’t even realize how much it means to me that he got a piece of that night that I’ll be able to have for the rest of my life.…
— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) December 13, 2019
Little shout out to Brian Gionta who was inducted into the American Hockey Hall of Fame last night with Marc Bergevin in attendance:
Marc Bergevin était fier d'assister à l'intronisation de l'ancien capitaine Brian Gionta au Temple de la renommée du hockey américain, hier soir.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 13, 2019
Marc Bergevin was proud to attend the induction of former captain @Giostyle21 into the #USHHOF last night in DC.#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/XuPeUo5etn