Montreal Canadiens

Canadiens Corner: Price puts on gear, Zegras reaction, Ylonen on the fourth line

Published

3 years ago

December 8, 2021

The Montreal Canadiens best player took another positive step towards returning to full health early this afternoon.

Carey Price suited up in full gear after practice in Brossard. It’s the latest development in the Habs goaltender’s recovery from off-season knee surgery.

Carey en équipement!

Full gear Carey!#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/RUzlw5hnJn

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 8, 2021

Head coach Dominique Ducharme said after practice that the team still doesn’t expect Price back until after Christmas at the earliest. Ducharme confirmed that the next step for Price after getting comfortable in his full gear will be doing lateral movements in his crease. After that he’ll hopefully take shots before returning to practice with his teammates.

Habs react to Milano goal

The talk of the hockey world the past 24 hours has been the unreal goal scored by the Anaheim Ducks’ Sonny Milano last night in their win over the Buffalo Sabres. Trevor Zegras’ passing wizardry and Milano’s batted-in finish even made it on to Good Morning America down south.

If you haven’t seen it, check it out. And if you have, well another look won’t hurt.

Trevor Zegras picks up the puck and lobs one OVER THE NET to Sonny Milano who buries in front! What a play from Zegras!#FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/rPDeOIATuQ

— Hockey Daily 365 (@HockeyDaily365) December 8, 2021

Montreal Canadiens players couldn’t help but marvel at the ridiculous skill and inventiveness by Zegras on the play.

“It’s wild,” smirked goaltender Jake Allen after practice this afternoon. “It’s amazing. Obviously if I was the goalie in there I wouldn’t be happy about it. But (as) a hockey fan, like we all are, it’s amazing to see the skill. That’s what brings people to games. That’s what kids are doing these days. Thats’s what their upbringing is.”

Allen also said he expects we’ll continue to see more of those kind of filthy plays over the coming years around the league. “I think over the next decade you’re going to be seeing maybe not goals like that all the time but you’re going to see more of it. It’s just the way kids are coming up. So skilled and creative and they have balls. They do. To be able to do that in the middle of a game obviously takes some confidence and some guts to do it. If it didn’t work you might look like an idiot. But it worked and that guy has been playing lights out all year.”

Fellow American Ryan Poehling was asked about the goal as well. “I know Cole (Caufield)’s really good buddies with Zegras so I asked him about it and he was fired up and said he couldn’t believe it. It was a pretty cool play. It’s never been done before. It was cool.”

Ylonen starts on the fourth line

Ducharme also provided an update on centreman Christian Dvorak after he left last night’s loss to the Lighting with an apparent left knee injury. Dvorak will undergo an MRI later this afternoon. He, Joel Armia and Jeff Petry will all be out of tomorrow night’s against the Chicago Blackhawks.

That meant that forward Jesse Ylonen became the latest Laval Rocket player to get called-up to the Montreal Canadiens. The second round pick in 2018 has put up 14 points in 17 games in the AHL so far this year. He’ll make his season debut tomorrow night. He was on a fourth line with Michael Pezzetta and Cedric Paquette at practice.

“Ylo’s very skilled,” said his former linemate in Laval Poehling this morning. “He’s a guy that if you give him time and space he’s going to make a good play. And he can shoot the puck too. I was excited to see him this morning and hopefully if he plays he plays his game because it’s a lot of fun to watch.”

With 11 veterans out of the lineup, here were the Montreal Canadiens lines at practice in Brossard this morning