Last year, Jonathan Drouin was set to debut at centre next to Max Pacioretty on the opening night of the Montreal Canadiens season. Tonight, he will be on the wing next to the team’s first-round pick Jesperi Kotkaniemi as the season gets underway in Toronto.
Trios du #CH ce matin à Toronto
Tatar Danault Gallagher
Drouin Kotkaniemi Armia
Byron Domi Lehkonen
Hudon Peca ShawExtras : Plekanec et Scherbak
— Luc Gelinas (@LucGelinasRDS) October 3, 2018
Drouin and Kotkaniemi will skate with Joel Armia as they have for the last part of the pre-season following Max Domi’s suspension.
Domi, for his part, will play with Paul Byron and Artturi Lehkonen in an incredibly balanced Canadiens forward lineup.
We did get clues into the status of Andrew Shaw. He skated with Matthew Peca and Charles Hudon, which will likely be the fourth line.
Tomas Plekanec and Nikita Scherbak would be the extra forwards.
Les duos de défenseurs du #CH
Mete – Petry
Reilly – Juulsen
Benn – Ouellet – Alzner— Luc Gelinas (@LucGelinasRDS) October 3, 2018
On defence, Victor Mete and Jeff Petry appear to be the team’s top pairing, followed by Noah Juulsen and Mikey Reilly, and Karl Alzner and Jordie Benn. Xavier Ouellet appears to be the odd man out for the first game of the season.
Carey Price will start in goal.
We will have a full game thread later this afternoon.
UPDATE: Karl Alzner, not Xavier Ouellet, appears to be the healthy scratch among the defencemen.
Whoa, looks like Alzner is scratched as well. Working with the extras. Will wait for confirmation from Claude Julien.
— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) October 3, 2018
