Habs Daily: Byron Working With Reinbacher, Nick Suzuki On Fire

Here are the Montreal Canadiens news, highlights, and stories you may have missed on Tuesday.

• There was only one change to the lineup ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Florida Panthers. Kaiden Guhle served his one-game suspension for slashing an opponent from the bench. Goaltender Samuel Montembeault got the start, his second in a row. [Canadiens Game 74: Montembeault Starts, Guhle Returns]

• It comes as no surprise Nick Suzuki led the charge against the Panthers. He’s the team’s most valuable player by a rather wide margin. His results on Tuesday were yet another example of Suzuki’s constantly improving attributes. We also have to give full marks to Joel Armia for his strong play versus Florida. [Canadiens Captain Suzuki Shines In Dominant Win Vs. Florida]

• Suzuki scored his 31st and 32nd goals of the year, which means he registered yet another multi-point effort. Consequently, he joined a list with some of the most offensively talented Montreal Canadiens players in franchise history.

Nick Suzuki keeps showing up on lists with some of the best players in franchise history. #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/cUn099pn8w

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) April 3, 2024

• One of the major benefits of having David Reinbacher in North America is easy access to the Canadiens development team. Paul Byron spent some time working with the Reinbacher on Tuesday. As a reminder, Byron was named a Player Development Consultant upon his retirement from the NHL.

David Reinbacher got a visit from Habs legend Paul Byron today 😌 pic.twitter.com/Ohh3TxKALI

— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) April 2, 2024

• There was some good news in Trois-Rivières, as DSE has agreed to sell the team to an unknown buyer. This means they can finalize their season, unlike the Newfoundland Growlers, who ceased operations on Tuesday. [Trois-Rivieres Lions Can Continue Season]

The ECHL's Newfoundland Growlers are ceasing operations immediately. Any NFLD player who was on an AHL/NHL contract as of March 20 is ineligible to play in the ECHL for the rest of the season. Everyone else is a free agent.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) April 2, 2024

National Hockey Now Network

• Nikolai Kovalenko, technically assigned to the Colorado Eagles at the moment, was on the ice with Toby Petersen. A few moments later, Valeri Nichushkin, currently out with a lower-body injury, joined in, and the three of them had a long session that lasted about an hour. [Colorado Avalanche]

• The Pittsburgh Penguins’ inability to hold a third-period lead is surpassed only by the New York Islanders’ disdain for winning in regulation. The Penguins have 10 overtime and shootout losses, but the Islanders have 15. [Pittsburgh Penguins]

• With Quinnipiac’s 5-4 loss to No. 1-seeded Boston College in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, two of the top free agents in college hockey — Collin Graf and Jacob Quillan — are now free to sign NHL contracts. [Nashville Predators]