Montreal Canadiens

Canadiens Practice Notes: Monahan To Centre, Dach To Wing

Published

2 years ago

October 14, 2022

The Montreal Canadiens landed in Detroit ahead of their second game of the season. Fresh off an exciting win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, they’ll be facing former teammate Ben Chiarot, who is acting as an alternate captain for the Red Wings.

Ville Husso is set to start in the opposing net, while the sixth-overall pick at the 2018 draft, Filip Zadina, watches from the press box.

Martin St-Louis is maintaining the same lines as he did in the season opener, which means Corey Schueneman, who was freshly recalled from the Laval Rocket due to Mike Matheson’s injury, will not play.

Montreal Canadiens Lines Versus Detroit

Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Josh Anderson

Mike Hoffman – Sean Monahan – Kirby Dach

Juraj Slafkovsky – Christian Dvorak – Brendan Gallagher

Rem Pitlick – Jake Evans – Evgenii Dadonov

Kaiden Guhle – David Savard

Jordan Haris – Jonathan Kovacevic

Arber Xhekaj – Chris Wideman

Jake Allen

Samuel Montembeault

The lineup remaining unchanged also means both Jonathan Drouin and Michael Pezzetta are slated to be healthy scratches for the second game in a row.

The only change Montreal Canadiens fans will see tonight is a slight shift in positions on the second line, with Kirby Dach moving to the wing and Sean Monahan playing at centre. The pair often share centre responsibilities on the line, so it remains to be seen who actually starts the game down the middle.

Both Monahan and Dach have shown flashes of brilliance with their new team, and given Monahan’s ability to generate controlled entries into the neutral zone, it’s unsurprising St-Louis wants to see what he can do playing as a centre in a regular-season game.

Sniper Focus

Can Cole Caufield build upon his excellent season debut? If practice is any indication, Caufield hasn’t lost his scoring rhythm. His two goals against the Maple Leafs came at even strength, an encouraging sign for Canadiens fans seeing as he’s bound to find the back of the net with the man advantage in the very near future.