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The Canadiens are back to work this morning in Brossard with one notable absence, Kaiden Guhle. The team finally gave an update about his health, stating that he is considered day-to-day with an upper body injury. Cheer up Habs fans, he’s not out long term and the rumors about a broke wrist were just that, rumors as stated last night by TVA Sports’ insider Renaud Lavoie. The most cynical will say that with the Canadiens, you never know how long day-to-day means, but whatever it turns out to be, it should be much shorter than what was rumored.
Even with Dach out long term and Guhle being out right now, there still haven’t been any call ups from the Laval Rocket. This should mean that Michael Pezzetta should be in the line-up on Saturday and that Justin Barron should be making his season debut. The 21-year-old Nova Scotia native has had a difficult training camp and seemed to have regressed. About his, St-Louis said that he hadn’t played so far because the team was comfortable with the six players in front of him, but when they call upon him, whatever the reason, he’ll have to be ready. Hopefully, he’ll be ready to rise to the occasion on Saturday when the Canadiens welcome the Washington Capitals.
Speaking of the Habs’ next opponents, they were obliterated by the Ottawa Senators last night by a score of 6-1 and for the first time of his career, Alexander Ovechkin did not get a single shot on goal for two games in a row. The Capitals’ captain and sniper has only recorded one assist so far this season and has a -2 differential. Proof that the Canadiens’ captain Nick Suzuki is not the only one who’s having a slow start to the season. The team’s coach said that Suzuki needed to play better but immediately added that he was not worried that it would sort itself out.
In his media availability, head coach Martin St-Louis spoke about his team’s performance at even strength and said it was pretty good, but there was no point in being able to perform five on five if you’re just going to get yourself into penalty trouble consistently. He didn’t say how he would go about it, but he mentioned that he would come down on bad penalties.
St-Louis was also asked if the team was planning on calling up a forward for Saturday’s game but he only replied he was positive they would be calling up a forward this season. In other words, the coach is keeping his hand close to his chest.