Lineup news: Jonathan Drouin returns to action, Brendan Gallagher out

At morning skate on Saturday ahead of the Montreal Canadiens’ game versus the Ottawa Senators, there were several important developments.

One of which was news that Brendan Gallagher would be unable to play. He was shoved into the boards hard in the last game and seemed to have tweaked something. He did return to finish the game, but clearly isn’t in good enough condition to play, officially out with a lower-body injury.

Josh Anderson is questionable after missing the last two games with a lower-body injury, and will be a game-time decision.

The biggest news of the morning is that Jonathan Drouin is ready to return to the lineup for the first time in two months. This will be his first game under Martin St. Louis, and everyone has been wondering what effect the new coach’s approach will have on his game. He had 20 points in the first 32 games, and that rate should improve with the renewed confidence the team as a whole is playing with.

Carey Price was also on the ice at the main practice with his teammates rather than participating in his own session. We’ve been hearing that the plan is for him to return to the ice this season, and that debut gets a little bit closer with this step.

Having cleared waivers earlier in the week, Mathieu Perreault is still with the team and could draw into the lineup if it’s determined that Anderson can’t go after all.

St. Louis has also said there will be no “management decisions” to withhold players from the lineup, so we can expect to see both Jeff Petry and Artturi Lehkonen play the final game before the trade deadline.