Canadiens Practice Notes: Drouin Disciplined By St-Louis

The Montreal Canadiens were back at work on Friday afternoon after falling to the Florida Panthers, but Jonathan Drouin wasn’t present

The Canadiens were without Jonathan Drouin at practice today, but it wasn’t due to an injury.

It was revealed by head coach Martin St Louis that Drouin missed a team meeting this morning and was thus not allowed to play on Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

It’s a real shame for Drouin, as he was playing some of his best hockey as of late.

The 27-year-old has been one of the Canadiens’ most offensively consistent players in the second half of the season, posting one goal and 20 assists in his last 27 games.

We expect to know more on the situation tomorrow.

Back In Business

Despite this distraction, the Habs quickly needed to get back to basics from a defensive standpoint after allowing 21 goals in their last three games.

Despite their offensive output rising at the same time, the Canadiens simply don’t have the firepower to keep up with the top teams in the league in a game of back-and-forth hockey.

Head coach Martin St-Louis was vocal after last night’s game against the Florida Panthers that the Canadiens needed to shore up their defensive game and return to the concepts that made them so effective over the last month.

“Defensively, we forgot everything,” said St. Louis.  “Offensively, we had three goals after three shots, but you have to know how to defend. I know we know how to defend, but tonight we forgot everything.”

With the Canadiens set to face the Tampa Bay Lightning twice in the next four days, St. Louis was sure to use today’s practice to work through some of his group’s defensive kinks.

Guhle Maintenance

Kaiden Guhle, who already looked uncomfortable on the ice the last couple of games, has seemingly been banged up, yet against the Florida Panthers.

This time, he awkwardly fell against the boards in a race to the puck with Panthers forward Colin White.

His left knee took the brunt of the impact, and it forced Guhle to temporarily retreat to the locker room with a lower-body injury.

The Canadiens chose to keep Guhle out of today’s practice in Tampa Bay and preferred he undergo some treatments to help him with any potential lingering effects from that tough collision.

The Montreal Canadiens have yet to mention whether or not this injury will keep the 21-year-old from the lineup against the Lightning on Saturday.