The Montreal Canadiens will wrap up their pre-season schedule on Saturday night when they visit Ottawa to take on the Senators.
The Montreal Canadiens enjoyed a few days off during the annual team trip to Tremblant, but they are now in the nation's capital to face the Ottawa Senators for the second time in five nights.
The last contest was testy, with defenseman Arber Xhekaj getting tossed and forward Kirby Dach spending some time in the dressing room after a high hit from Ridly Greig.
Emotions were high between the two teams, with the Senators rallying from a 2-0 deficit with four power play goals to pull out a 4-3 win.
Canadiens head coach Martin St-Louis spoke to the media this morning, saying, "We won't take a chance. The first line won't play tonight." That means there will be no Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, or captain Nick Suzuki in the pre-season finale.
Additionally, St-Louis also pointed out that Dach will not dress tonight. After the hit in Wednesday's tilt, he returned to the contest to net Montreal's second goal and finished his night with a late third-period fight with Greig to settle the two's beef once and for all.
However, these lineup changes do not mean the two teams will avoid further conflicts since Xhekaj is back in and must keep a cooler head to avoid being ejected from his third consecutive game.
Sam Montembeault is expected to get the start. He last played 30 minutes on September 28 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, giving up a goal and making 11 saves before yielding the crease to Cayden Primeau.
More positive news: Kaiden Guhle is dressing on Saturday night, the first time he'll see game action since having his appendix removed on September 18. The Canadiens expect bigger things from the 22-year-old and hope a little pre-season action will spring him out of the gate to start the regular season next week.
Montreal has yet to announce its official lineup for tonight, so check back in the afternoon for updates.
