BROSSARD – The Montreal Canadiens players are delighted to return to some form of normalcy with the start of the regular season. Hockey fans ask for nothing better than to find them on their “small screen” on Wednesday.
It starts for real in Toronto, against the Maple Leafs (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN). Rivalry at its best, right off the bat.
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It starts off quite stiff for the CH, which will play five other games abroad, before returning to Montreal on January 24.
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“It’s always important to have a good start to the season, but it is more important this season in a schedule of 56 games that looks more like a sprint than a marathon,” said the defender. Ben Chiarot, at the end of the team’s training session.
The eight days of training camp may have gone smoothly, there is nothing like playing against opponents to get the facts.
We will quickly know what the team is housed in the pan-Canadian section, in addition to obtaining answers regarding the adaptability of new players.
“It doesn’t matter how many new players there are or whether they seem comfortable in our game system, you have to play games and see a normal progression in terms of cohesion,” said the coach. Claude Julien, before the departure of the team.
Perry and Frolik stay
A little earlier, at the stroke of noon, we had greeted with a sigh of relief the confirmation that the veteran attackers Corey Perry and Michael Frolik had not been claimed on waivers.
Perry and Frolik were therefore able to be part of the reserve squad, supplemented by Ryan Poehling, the defender Cale Fleury and the guardian Charlie Lindgren, who accompanied the team to Toronto.
The young Fleury took the place of the veteran Xavier Ouellet, who joined Group B in training. He skated alongside Victor Mete, who has the status of 21st player in the formation.
“Xavier is a good veteran and a great defender. He will be able to return to the bubble later, explained the coach. At the moment, we want to give Fleury some experience. The same goes for Poehling. When we resume activities in the American League, we will want these young people to play en masse. “
Objective: winning record
Within the team, we welcome the spree of six games in the space of 12 days. We judge that it will allow the group to be united. The links will obviously be woven better if we thread the victories.
Coach Claude Julien said he would be happy if his troops offered him a winning record on the return.
Rising the curtain of his 102nd season, the Habs will not be too out of place in the bubble city in which he performed well in the playoffs last summer.
After Toronto, CH will travel to Edmonton, where they will play against the Oilers on Saturday and Monday. He will complete his run with a series of three games in four days against the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
The return of hockey will do the mental health of a large part of the population a great deal of good, on which the restrictions linked to the pandemic are beginning to weigh heavily.
“The situation is difficult for everyone and we know the benefits we can have on people,” said Julien. We saw that during the recent World Junior Championship. We hope we can provide some comfort.
“We must make sacrifices and respect the protocol that has been put in place to avoid contracting the coronavirus,” he added. We understand the role we can play and we hope we can make a difference. “
Advocate Chiarot has said he feels blessed to be able to practice his profession during a pandemic.
“I am very grateful for the luck I have,” he said. If it can entertain people, so much the better. “
Entertainment should be colorful. The seven Canadian teams engage in a merciless fight that will offer them no respite.
The Canadiens will not be able to afford the luxury of having long streaks of failure, as happened to him last season, observed the captain. Shea Weber at the start of training camp.
“We have to realize that each game will count twice, he said. In a normal season, losing a classification point against a Western Conference team can have little impact.
“This season we will only face direct rivals within our section. As the saying goes, these will only be ‘four point’ games. In a series of three games against the same team, if we lose all three, it will quickly have repercussions in the standings. “
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