Tanner Pearson should be back in the lineup tomorrow night

All the Canadiens players jumped on the Rogers Arena rink this afternoon in Vancouver for a training session.

The Habs face the Canucks tomorrow night.

Note that only Joshua Roy wasn’t there, on his way to Montreal for evaluation (hand injury):

Tanner Pearson was left out yesterday against the Oilers, but all signs point to his return to the lineup tomorrow night against the Canucks.

Why?

Because he’s the one who took Joshua Roy’s place at practice on the second power play wave.

Remember that Jesse Ylönen is also available… But Ylö hasn’t played since March 7, having been left out of the club’s last five games.

It makes sense for Pearson.

Even without Roy’s injury, I would have expected him to play tomorrow for one simple reason: it’s his return to Vancouver.

The veteran spent four (and a half) seasons in a Canucks uniform and was well liked there. It would be disrespectful if Trevor Letowski decided to insert Ylönen into the line-up instead of Pearson…

It will also be interesting to see if there are any changes on the blue line.

Remember that for yesterday’s game, Jayden Struble gave up his place in the line-up to Johnathan Kovacevic.

Extension

If yesterday’s game proved to be an important challenge for the Canadiens, it will be the same tomorrow in Vancouver.

The Canucks are dominant this season, sitting in 4th place overall in the NHL standings at the time of writing.

They have a 43-18-8 record, which is a bit surprising because nobody thought they’d be that good this season.