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Marc-André Fleury might have lost his starting role to Filip Gustavsson but coach Dean Evason has decided to let him make his season debut against his childhood native. The 38-year-old Sorel native is eight wins shy of surpassing Patrick Roy for second place in career wins and there is no better place to resume the chase than in his home province. In 46 games against the Habs, Fleury has signed 26 wins and two shutouts. He’s got a 2.93 goal against average and a .903 save percentage.
Minnesota comes to town after taking a 7-4 beating in Toronto this weekend and has one win in two games so far this season. The Wild has got the 13th best power play in the league with a 20% success rate although it’s from a small sample, they’ve scored one goal in five man-advantage. Still, the Canadiens’ who are the second most punished team in the league with 45 penalty minutes in two games would do well to behave and try to stay out of the box.
There’s been very little talk about the Wild in Montreal so far though Kirby Dach’s injury is grabbing all the headlines. Yesterday, the Canadiens’ stated the center had sustained a significant injury and that his absence would be a long-term affair, but they were still in the process of assessing the severity of the injury. As always in Montreal, speculation ran rampant until Eric Engels posted an update last night. According to the Sportsnet insider, initial word is Dach has got both a torn ACL and a torn MCL in his knee. Should this be confirmed by the Canadiens today, it’s safe to assume Dach’s season will be over, just two games in.
As head coach Martin St-Louis said yesterday though, the Canadiens have got no time to dwell on the news, since the league keeps going and they must do that to. Still, Juraj Slafkovsky reflected what a lot of people think by saying that it was the worst thing that could happen to the Canadiens. The young Slovak’s reaction is understandable, he’s spent the whole camp riding shotgun with Dach, and it seemed like the big center knew exactly how to get the best out of Slafkovsky.
While this is indeed very bad news for the Canadiens, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are done for. Sure, both the teams and the fans were looking forward to seeing Dach take his development to the next level, but that will have to wait. Still, fans can look forward to seeing Caufield take the next step and fill up the net. He’s got two goals in two games so far and we’ll see how many goals he can get in a full season. Just like last season, we’ll also have front row seats to Alex Newhook’s journey to establish himself as a center especially since Dach’s injury will require him to step up. As for Slafkovsky, it will be up to the coaching staff to make sure he believes in himself and know that he can still be his best self without Dach by his side.
The game is set for 7:00 PM tonight and the Canadiens’ have yet to confirm who will man the net. We’ll probably know more after this morning’s optional skate which will be held at 10:30 at the Bell Centre and the media availabilities that will follow.
Initial word I'm receiving on Canadiens' Kirby Dach is he has a torn ACL+torn MCL in his knee. There are more tests being done, and we'll wait for Habs to officially confirm once they're received all the info, but this puts Dach's season at risk if it ends up being the case.
— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) October 16, 2023