Hockey

Five issues to watch for today at the Canadiens
Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Five issues to watch for today at the Canadiens
Credit: Getty Images

It's game day in Montreal, and even though it's Monday, the Canadiens will be in action tonight. The Buffalo Sabres will be in town for their final duel at the Bell Centre before heading out West, and there are a few things to keep an eye on for the Canadiens today. For example? 1. The Habs will practice at 10:30 this morning at the Bell Centre. Will Patrik Laine and Kirby Dach, two forwards considered on a day-to-day basis, be present? It remains to be seen whether any other forwards will be absent. 2. Even if the injured were to practice, that doesn't mean they'll play at 7:30 tonight. We'll be watching to see if Owen Beck makes it to practice or is traded to the Laval Rocket, because if he does, it's likely (but not necessarily) that he'll play tonight. After all, the Canadiens don't like to have too many extras upstairs… and Beck was officially called up on Saturday. 3. We'll also be watching to see if practice gives us any answers about the trios in place. After all, if Patrik Laine practices with Jake Evans and Josh Anderson, that might give us some clues for tonight. But if Brendan Gallagher were to be on that line…In fact, we'll be keeping an eye on the lines in general. Will Martin St-Louis be stirring his soup?

4. Right now, a lot of people want to see Jakub Dobes play in tonight's game. Will Martin St-Louis trust his #1 goalie against the mighty Buffalo Sabres?Facing Buffalo could help Monty regain his confidence, no?5. I don't expect to see a player recalled to the blue line today. Logically, there will only be six defensemen at today's practice, but we'll see. But we'll see.

In any case, the incumbent defensemen will have to learn to deal with their new reality, one without Kaiden Guhle. There are fewer guys sitting in the right chair without #21,and on top of that, a guy like Lane Hutson is going to be targeted more, as we saw on Saturday. How will he respond?

'Overtime'

– It was a big game for the Blue Jays against the Mariners yesterday. There's a Game #7 tonight to see who'll face the Dodgers in the World Series starting Friday, and

– Change coming to Buffalo?

– Read on.

– Interesting angle on the Olympics.

facebook icon Share twitter icon Tweet linkedin icon Share
Copied!