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In Hainsight: No Changes Yet |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
The Canadiens kicked off their season with a loss in Toronto, but it was a high-octane affair in which there was plenty of offense. Given the fact that his team still managed to produce five goals, head coach Martin St-Louis seems to be sticking to the same line-up for tomorrow’s game. I can understand those who say that it’s only been one game and it takes more time to assess whether a line is working or not, but the Caufield-Suzuki-Anderson has been tried time and time again and the result is always the same.
It's possible that St-Louis is waiting for Dvorak to be ready to return to action to put Monahan back on his dynamic duo’s wing, but according to what Kent Hughes told the media, the 27-year-old center won’t be ready to come back until some time in November. Can the Canadiens afford to wait that long? The last thing you want is for your two top players to have a slow start to the new campaign and end up feeling the pressure.
Furthermore, the third line made up of Pearson, Monahan and Gallagher was struggling during Wednesday’s game. Kent Hughes said when he acquired Pearson that he was bringing some grey hair to the team, he was mainly joking about veteran presence but watching him and Brendan Gallagher skate on Wednesday was almost painful. Both were slow and having them on the same line is certainly not a recipe for success. It’s hard to break up a fourth line that played so well, but if Monahan remains on that line, he deserves to get a bit of help. Elevating Harvey-Pinard to his side could be a logical move to make, but for now at least, it seems like St-Louis believes a bit of time is all that’s needed for the existing lines to gel.
Off the ice, the Canadiens’ announced this morning that Mike Matheson had won the Jean Beliveau Trophy for the 2022-2023 season. The blueliner joined the Canadiens in July 2022 in the (first) Jeff Petry trade and immediately made an impact in the community. The defenseman has been dedicated to empowering children to help develop their physical literacy skills. He’s been visiting various schools where the Champions for Life foundation is deployed and meets kids from the first to the sixth grade reading them interactive stories which allows the students to reproduce the skills illustrated in them.
Tomorrow night, the Habs will be taking on the Blackhawks and super rookie Connor Bedard. It will be up to Samuel Montembeault to stop him as the Quebecer will get the start in net. The game is of course sold out and if you fancy seeing the prodigy take his first strides on the Bell Center ice be ready to overpay the scalpers…
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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