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First Move Completed | Habs Notepad

Chris G

Habs News: NHL, Montreal Canadiens, Nick Suzuki, Joel Armia, Joel Edmundson, Kirby Dach, Arber Xhekaj, Kaiden Guhle, Sean Monahan, Evgenii Dadonov, Kent Hughes, Jeff Gorton, Laval Rocket, Trois-Rivieres Lions

Denis Gurianov, Dallas Stars (Photo by Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)

ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | LAVAL, QC. — The Montreal Canadiens returned home on Saturday to face the Ottawa Senators after completing a four-game road trip. The score was 2-2 through 40 minutes before momentum completely swung in the Senators favour when they scored twice in 47 seconds early in the third period. Ottawa added one more before the final buzzer to register the 5-2 win. Nick Suzuki reached the 20-goal mark for the second consecutive season.  

“I don’t like the result, but I liked our game. It got away from us in the third. Not so much structurally, just missed assignments. We could have been a little more opportunistic on our chances. In the first two periods, I thought we were outplaying them. It wasn’t a 5-2 game,” Martin St. Louis evaluated the night.

Ottawa has Montreal’s number this season having won all four contests and outscoring them 18-8. The trend appeared early in the year as the Senators won all four preseason games against the Canadiens.

Medical Updates

Following Saturday’s contest, the team provided medical updates on several players prior to their trip to San Jose for the beginning of a four-game road trip.

Forwards Joel Armia and Kirby Dach did not accompany the team. Armia is day to day with an upper respiratory infection. He has missed the last two games and did not finish the February 21st game against the New Jersey Devils.

Dach is out indefinitely with a lower body injury. He has missed the last five matches in what was originally described as a non-COVID illness.

Joel Edmundson was on the plane to California with his teammates. The defenceman left the January 26th game with an upper body injury and has not dressed since. He is expected to participate in Monday’s practice.

Arber Xhekaj will undergo season-ending surgery on his right shoulder this week. The procedure will be performed by Dr. Peter J. Millett in Denver. Millett is the same specialist that recently operated on Cole Caufield. Xhekaj hurt his shoulder on February 12th during a fight with Oilers forward Vincent Desharnais. 

On a positive note, Kaiden Guhle is expected to play in San Jose on Tuesday. The defenceman practiced with a regular jersey for the first time on Friday. Guhle has been sidelined since December 29th with a lower body injury. Corey Schueneman was assigned to the Rocket to free up a roster spot for Guhle’s return.
No update was provided about Sean Monahan‘s absence.

Habs Acquire Gurianov

Kent Hughes began his trade deadline work on Sunday by trading Evgenii Dadonov to the Dallas Stars in return for forward Denis Gurianov. The Canadiens will retain 50 percent of Dadonov’s salary for the remainder of the season.

Gurianov was drafted 12th overall by the Stars in 2015 and has collected 103 points in 257 career games. In 2019-20, Gurianov had a successful post season run with 17 points in 27 games. This season, the forward has totaled a disappointing nine points in 43 games. He will be a restricted free agent on July 1st.

Dadonov was acquired by the Canadiens during the offseason from the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange of Shea Weber’s contract. He scored four goals and 18 points in 50 games with Montreal.

Hughes and Jeff Gorton are not on the road trip and will continue to work the phones from Montreal until Friday’s trade deadline.

With Monahan not scheduled to be back, and Edmundson potentially only getting a small sample of playing time this week, it will be a challenge for the leadership duo to make an impactful move by deadline.

Rocket Disappointing Trip

The Laval Rocket completed their five-game road trip with a pair of games over the weekend. On Friday, the Rochester Americans set the tone for the match with a goal in the first minute of action. Starting goalie Cayden Primeau and Kevin Primeau in relief had a difficult night between the pipes as each goalie allowed four goals on 17 shots in Laval’s 8-4 loss to Rochester. 

“It was one of our worst games of the year. We were chasing the puck all night, we were always second on the puck and we will give them credit as [Rochester] played an excellent game. They dominated us,” Jean-Francois Houle told BPM Sports.

The Rocket were at the Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto to face the Marlies. The score was tied 2-2 with five minutes remaining when the Marlies netted the eventual game winning goal for the 3-2 win.

After a bad performance on Friday, Primeau bounced back in Toronto stopping 46 shots and was named the third star of the match.

Laval completed their road trip with three of the 10 available points in the standings. Despite the poor results, the Rocket are hanging on to the final playoff spot in the North division.

The Rocket stayed in Toronto on Saturday for their rookie dinner before returning home where they will play the next four games at Place Bell, starting on Wednesday against Rochester.  

Lions Split Weekend

The Trois-Rivieres Lions completed a three-game series against the Newfoundland Growlers with a pair of games over the weekend. On Friday, the Growlers scored twice and never looked back and headed to 3-1 victory. The Lions power play failed to have a significant impact to the game as they converted once in seven opportunities.

“We played more inspired hockey. Unlike our last game, we fought until the end. This was what we asked for before the match and the players respected it,” coach and general Marc-Andre Bergeron said.

On Saturday, the game was 2-2 late in the third period when forward Anthony Beauregard broke the tie with one minute remaining. Trois-Rivieres added an empty net goal to win 4-2.

“This victory feels good. We deserved it. We had some difficulties in the second period, but we played a good game otherwise. Compared to Wednesday and Friday, we were opportunistic while they were less so,” Bergeron said.

Joe Vrbetic made his first start on Saturday since February 10th after missing the last six games due to illness. The goalie was named third star of the match with a solid performance stopping 34 shots.

“It had been two weeks since Joe had played. Like it or not, this was not an ideal situation. He especially made the difference in the second period. We gave a lot of chances in that period,” Bergeron evaluated the goalie’s return performance.

The Lions head to Reading to face the Royals in a three game series beginning on Friday.

(Quotes courtesy of Le Nouvelliste)

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By Chris G., Senior Writer
All Habs Hockey Magazine
Copyright © 2022 Rocket Sports

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