The bell center was filled for the first time in 19 months

Enough. After 19 months of waiting, the Canadian will finally be playing a game inside a Bale center that must be filled to capacity.

• Read also: the vacation is over

Despite the two setbacks in the unveiling of the new season, we can expect the Habs players to receive a standing ovation during the pre-game gala.

Jonathan Drouin, whose mental health issues prompted him to walk away from the team at the end of April, has to be one of the most praised. He has already received a standing ovation from the 7,500 spectators who attended the match inside the squad a few weeks ago.

“This is a moment that I will remember for the rest of my life. I will live it and will cherish it, I assured number 92. But we must not forget that we have a big game tonight. We did not start the season the way we wanted.”

There is nothing better than reconnecting with your supporters to find the path to victory. Especially during the opening match when the mood is usually at its peak.

“Playing in front of the fans, we took that for granted. We had a surprise with COVID-19,” said Druin. “The atmosphere of the match was completely different. There was no adrenaline.”

“We will have the impression that the city is coming back to life. It looked like a ghost town after the curfew. When the supporters of the building were readmitted, I could feel the atmosphere from my home,” he added.

Away from the Calder Cup

Jake Allen will face shots from Alexis Lafrenière and his teammates. On the occasion of this visit to New York, Dominique Ducharme will make some changes to his training.

Thus, Joel Jeremiah will evolve to the left of Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. Tyler Toffoli will replace Finn in the unit completed by Jake Evans and Brendan Gallagher.

“In the first two games, the Suzuki trio didn’t collect a lot of pucks and didn’t have a lot of net appearances,” the Canadiens coach explained.

During these encounters, Cole Caufield, the right wing of this unit, fired seven shots on goal. However, real scoring opportunities were rare. Whether or not the fact that his name was actually mentioned as a Calder Cup candidate upset Coffield. Ducharme gave the following response: “You don’t win Calder in the first games of the season. And you don’t win them thinking you play to win them. When you play the right way, the right things happen. Be it contracts, wins, goals or points.”

A chance for Romanov

On the Blue Line, Alexander Romanov will be promoted to Jeff Petrie’s left, while Brett Kulak will be demoted to Chris Wideman.

“Joel Edmondson is not here. Who would be better tonight to take that place and this role? We’ll start like that and adapt along the way,” Ducharme said.

And to hear him speak, the rope of the Russian defender may not be very long.

“It can last for one, five matches or the whole match. It depends on how the players play.”

• Mike Hoffman participated in his first training session with his teammates. The day before, Ducharme had indicated that perhaps we could see him again on Tuesday, when the sharks would visit the bell center.

Canadian training during morning training

Darwin Dvorak Anderson

Army Suzuki Caufield

Toffoli Evans Gallagher

Perreault-Paquette-Lehkonen

Hoffman Brooks Belzel

Romanov Petri

Shearot Savard

Colac Wideman

Nico

aline

Montembolt

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