Habs Practice Report: Anderson Likely Back For Canadiens Monday

The Montreal Canadiens earned their first point in three games with a spirited effort in a controversial 3-2 overtime loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday. While that hard-fought loss stung, the habs continue to get healthier and they may be getting another key player back when they play their next game against the Arizona Coyotes in Glendale, AZ Monday afternoon.

Anderson Ready To Go

Montreal Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme seemed extremely confident, when speaking to the media Saturday, that Canadiens winger Josh Anderson could return Monday. If Anderson does get cleared to play, it’s going to be like a late Christmas present for the Montreal Canadiens winger who has been out since Dec. 2 with an upper-body injury.

“It’s exciting. Whenever you’re out for any period of time, it’s difficult to not be out there with your teammates,” said the Montreal Canadiens winger who hasn’t played since Dec. 2 due to an upper-body injury. ‘All you want to do is try to help them, and you can’t do that from the stands. Hopefully, I’ll be back next game and bring a lot of energy to the lineup.”

Prior to getting injured, Anderson had seven goals and six assists in 25 games.

Toffoli Getting Closer

Montreal Canadiens forward Tyler Toffoli is getting closer to a return as well after having hand surgery recently. Toffoli hasn’t played since Dec. 4 and has five goals and 26 assists in 26 games this season. Ducharme seemed confident that Toffoli will come back at some point during the current seven-game road trip.

“It’s possible we might see him in an upcoming game, but probably not before Vegas (Thursday) or Colorado (Saturday),” Ducharme said Saturday. “It could be one of those two games or the game after [in Minnesota Monday]. He’s getting there, he’s recovering from his injury, he’s getting back into game shape, so we’re very close to having him back on the ice.”

Here’s what the lines looked like at practice Saturday:

Forwards:

Mike Hoffman-Nick Suzuki-Josh Anderson

Rem Pitlick-Christian Dvorak-Jonathan Drouin

Artturi Lehkonen-Jake Evans-Joel Armia

Michael Pezzetta-Ryan Poehling-Cole Caufield

Defense:

Alexander Romanov-Jeff Petry

Ben Chiarot-David Savard

Brett Kulak-Chris Wideman

Goalies:

Sam Montembeault

Cayden Primeau