Habs Practice Report: Byron Excited For 500th Game, Dauphin Returns

The Montreal Canadiens had an optional skate this morning in preparation for tonight’s matchup against the St. Louis Blues, who are looking to bring their win streak to three games.

Dauphin Set For Return

Head Coach Martin St. Louis said Laurent Dauphin would return for the Montreal Canadiens tonight.

The six-foot 186-pound high-end prospect has been a healthy scratch for three games from the Montreal Canadiens bench. Before his absence, the centerman notched two goals and four assists in 16 games for Montreal this season. The Habs will need more from Dauphin in order for him to be a big part of this ongoing rebuild.

Byron Speaks on Game 500

Montreal Canadiens forward Paul Byron suited up in his first NHL game back on January 23, 2011, in a Buffalo Sabres sweater. 4,043 days later, Byron gets set for his 500 go-round on the main stage, and he could not be more thankful for it. 

“It means a lot, honestly. To be able to share the experience with my family tonight, them being able to come to the game, it makes me pretty happy. It has been a weird two years obviously with COVID and the restrictions, so the fact that they can just come and share the experience is amazing,” said Byron, who was picked up by the Montreal Canadiens on waivers from the Calgary Flames just prior to the October 2015-16 regular season. 

“They have been with me through a lot of ups and downs of my career…My wife has been by my side since day one when I started my pro career in Portland, Maine. So, to think back where I was at 15-16 years old, thinking about maybe not even making the Junior-B team…That could have been the end of my career, you know, I could have been playing single-letter hockey with my buddies and then just going to school and that would have been it.

For me to reflect back on my career, each step. All the coaches, my teammates I had; you know can not thank everybody enough that has been a part of the journey and an incredibly proud moment for me tonight.”

Practice Lines Yesterday – Today’s morning skate was optional so here are the Montreal Canadiens lines from Wednesday. 

Forwards:

Cole Caufield-Nick Suzuki-Josh Anderson

Rem Pitlick/Mathieu Perreault-Paul Byron-Jake Evans

Michael Pezzetta-Laurent Dauphin-Brendan Gallagher

Artturi Lehkonen-Ryan Poehling-Joel Armia/Cedric Paquette

Defense:

Brett Kulak-Jeff Petry

Alexander Romanov-Ben Chiarot

Kale Clague-Chris Wideman

Corey Schueneman

Goalies:

Sam Montembeault

Andrew Hammond