Training: Michael Pezzetta to take Jesse Ylönen’s place against the Maple Leafs

The Montreal Canadiens held a practice this morning at the Bell Centre in preparation for tonight’s showdown with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The first thing to note before the team’s official practice was that three injured players skated: Christian Dvorak, Colin White and Kirby Dach.

In the case of Dvorak and Dach, we know they won’t normally return to action this season, but it’s still positive to see them skating.

As for White, we’re not sure what his injury is, so seeing him skate is also positive.

He’s on the injured list, but is likely to return to action soon.

Once he’s healthy, there’ll be more of an in-house battle among the forwards, as 14 of them will be healthy.

As for official training, well, the Habs were fully booked this morning, with all (healthy) players on the ice.

It was the first time there were only two goalies on the ice, given that Jake Allen has been traded, and the three-way battle in front of the net is finally over.

We’re sold out this morning at Habs practice: thirteen forwards, seven defensemen and t̶r̶o̶i̶s̶ two goalies pic.twitter.com/XtsHc10l5t

– Guillaume Lefrançois (@glefrancoisLP) March 9, 2024

Éric Raymond has therefore lost 33.3% of his personnel.

As for the line-up, everything points to Michael Pezzetta taking Jesse Ylönen’s place on the fourth line, along with Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Tanner Pearson.

It’s only logical that Pezzetta should be reinserted into the lineup against the Toronto Maple Leafs, a strong rival of the Habs.

As for the rest of the lineup, nothing should change from the Habs’ last game against the Carolina Hurricanes.

In net, Samuel Montembeault will get the start.

It’s going to be a very interesting game to watch tonight, as the Maple Leafs make their first visit of the season to the Bell Centre.

We’ll be treated to only the second meeting between the two teams this season, which is completely ridiculous given that we’re down to the 64ᵉ game of the season.

Obviously, we’ll be keeping an eye on the potential fight between Arber Xhekaj and Ryan Reaves.

It’s the first to watch on the list of three potential fights between now and the end of the season.

En Rafale

– A goodbye message to the Sharks from Tomas Hertl.

https://t.co/OoP1IGzUBv

– San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) March 9, 2024

– Evgeny Kuznetsov’s new jersey.

Kuzy’s new threads pic.twitter.com/tNIvV8tgJN

– Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) March 9, 2024

– Logical.

– To be continued.

– Bad news.

– A big duel awaits Auger-Aliassime.