The Montreal Canadiens found a few soldiers at their training Friday morning in Brossard, as forwards Josh Anderson and Jonathan Drouin were in regular lines, as was captain Nick Suzuki.
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The day after a third early loss in the preseason schedule, head instructor Martin St-Louis paired Anderson with Cole Caufield and Suzuki; the latter, however, wore a jersey prohibiting body checking and said he hoped to be able to resume contact training on Saturday. For his part, Drouin evolved in the company of Sean Monahan and Joel Armia.
Thus, Suzuki (lower body) is still hopeful of starting the campaign on time and he seems on the right track. “I am happy with my progress, being a little ahead of the set schedule, he told reporters before returning to the circumstances surrounding the start of his troubles, that is to say a collision with Joel Edmundson. It was at the Monday session before the start of the camp. We were doing our normal stuff, then we collided at good speed. Hopefully we can both start the season as planned.”
“It was the next day that I didn’t feel like normal. I still finished the session and it appeared in the following hours, but I knew it was not serious.
Bitten by a spider
Early in the afternoon, Anderson spoke with the media and mentioned that the cause of his recent absence was a spider bite on his finger. The forward said he had to deal with swelling affecting his entire hand, so he had to stay away.
Meanwhile, Drouin appeared to be in very good physical condition. He was supposed to face the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday, but being sick, he was replaced by Juraj Slafkovsky. He will face the Ottawa Senators on Saturday at the Canadian Tire Centre.
«[Je veux] just health, he reiterated, well aware of the problems of all kinds having kept him on the floor several times in recent years. I had no problems with the way I played last year, it was an injury that ruined my season again. I repeat myself, but my goal is to play 82 games, he said, adding that he did not change his summer training for that. Nothing is connected to that. It’s bad luck, except this time it was easier because it’s the wrist. It’s boring to say, but I have experience on this side. Getting back into shape was easier.”
Other players
The other two lines consisted of Rem Pitlick, Jake Evans and Emil Heineman, as well as Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Filip Mesar and Xavier Simoneau. At fullback, Justin Barron, Jordan Harris and Mattias Norliner skated as one of three pairs of defensemen. Samuel Montembeault and Kevin Poulin defended the net.