Canadians' Matchday: Victor Mete is back against Flames



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Canadians' Day is a novelty of the season in which we will follow the Habs at every home game, the morning skate in Brossard, the Bell Center's post-game interviews and updates throughout the day. the day with all the news, quotes, ratings and opinion you are looking for:

Defenseman Victor Mete will return to the lineup when the Canadians face the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night at the Bell Center (7:30 pm, TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio) after missing the last two games due to the fact that they will not be able to play. a minor hand injury.

The return of Mete means veteran defender Karl Alzner will be a healthy scratch for the sixth time in eight games this season. The other scratches will be strikers Nikita Scherbak, who has not played a game this season, and Charles Hudon, who will take the second game in a row. Nicolas Deslauriers will take his place in the fourth row after recovering from a broken face. suffered during a pre-season bout.

Carey Price will start for the Canadians after allowing four goals on 34 shots in Saturday's 4-3 overtime loss to the Senators in Ottawa. Price needs a win to tie Patrick Roy 28th in the Canadian standings for Canadian goaltenders. Jacques Plante is at the top of the list with 314 career victories.

Matt Casavant of TVA Sports noted that the Canadiens are 1 to 11 in their last 12 games in overtime and shooting and that Price has lost its last seven games in overtime or shootout. Price's final shootout victory was won on January 4, 2018 as the Canadians defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in a shootout.

Mete broke his left index finger on March 2 last season after being hit by a shot and being hit with a puck at the same spot during last week's 7-3 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Bell Center.

"My fingers are a little swollen," Mete said after Tuesday morning's skating session. "There are 82 games in the season, it's not worth it to hurt him anymore."

That's why he has been absent for the last two games.

"You can see from above … the game seems a lot slower and easier, so you see how much time you have left," Mete said of watching the last two games since the press.

The lines

Here are the lines and defenses of the Canadians in the morning skate:

Tatar – Danault – Gallagher
Drouin – Domi – Lehkonen
Byron – Kotkaniemi – Armenia
Deslauriers – Peca – Shaw
Hudon – Scherbak

Benn – Petry
Reilly – Juulsen
Mete – Ouellet
Alzner

Difficult time for Alzner

Alzner is only in the second season of the five-year contract, a contract of 23.125 million US dollars that Marc Bergevin, of Canadians, signed with him as a free agent and the 30-year-old can not enter in training, even with Shea Weber and David Schlemko is absent with knee injuries.

Alzner was useless in both matches that he played in place of Mete and was even over / under with an average ice time of 17:11.

"He's a consummate pro and he understands that these are the current situations and he wants to be ready. He has a good attitude and that's all you can ask for. … If we have injuries, we will need him to defend ourselves and we start from there. "

After Tuesday morning's skating, Alzner practiced drills with badistant coach Luke Richardson, who could play well in the NHL.

Mete is useless in the five games in which he participated and posted a minus-1 with an average of 17:19 of ice time. The 20-year-old is still looking for his first NHL goal after collecting seven badists in his first 54 games.

Waiting game for Scherbak

Scherbak, the Canadiens' top pick (26th overall) in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, has not been able to be part of the squad this season, watching every game in the press.

In 26 games with the Canadiens last season, the 22-year-old totaled 4-2-6. He also played 26 games with the AHL's Laval Rocket last season, posting a total of 7-23-30.

"We talked," said Julien about Scherbak. "We are currently making sure with the guys that we do not play, we have conversations. Right now, it's really not a matter of disappointment, but rather a healthy team. You can only dress up to 20 and we are not the only team to live this now.

"There are a lot of teams that have to integrate players from the training," added Julien. "I think in his case, he knows what he has to work on. We want it to improve in tight spaces and everything else, and it works in practice. As soon as he is ready and we need him, he must be strong. So he had a good attitude. He works hard. He also understands … he's a young player. He understands and believes that he needs to improve in these areas. So it's good conversations and we really want to help him become a good player because he has a lot of improvement in his game. "

Johnny Hockey in town

Johnny Football (aka Johnny Manziel) has not been able to help the Alouettes this season, but Johnny Hockey is on fire with the Flames.

Johnny Gaudreau leads the Flames with a 5-7-12 total and scored two goals in Calgary's 4-1 win over the Rangers on Sunday in New York.

Prior to Tuesday night's game, the 5-foot-9, 165-pound left winger posted a total of 102-198-300 in 320 regular-season career games after the Flames picked him up in the fourth round ( 104th overall) to the NHL Draft. It was the repechage where the Canadiens selected defenseman Nathan Beaulieu in the first round (17th overall) and defenseman Josiah Didier in the fourth round (97th overall) before the Flames took Gaudreau. Canadians had no choice in the second or third round that year.

Before the start of the Flames season, Gaudreau totaled 36-36-72 in 60 games with the Dubuque Fighting Saints in the USHL. He then spent three seasons at Boston College – winner of the Hobey Baker Award for the 2013-14 season as the best US college hockey player after 36-44-80 in 40 games – before making his NHL debut with the Flames.

"I'm going to say the same thing as any great player: you have to take your time and space," said Julien to the question of what was the key to stopping Johnny Hockey. "You leave him room, he'll do something. He wants the puck and whenever he has it, he seems to get things moving. He is a player everyone respects in the league for what he has done and what he continues to do. "

As for the Flames as a team, Julien said:I think it's a hard working team. They compete hard. They are very aggressive offensively. Again, it's a style (that of head coach) Bill Peters, he was very aggressive in Carolina (when he was there). It's obviously a mid-size team, so there's a lot to respect from this group for tonight's game. "

A milestone for Benn

Canadiens defenseman Jordie Benn will play his 400th NHL career game on Tuesday night. Benn totaled 17-71-88 in his first 399 games.

Defender Jeff Petry opened Tuesday's game with a point on the mark of 100 with the Canadiens. In his first 239 games with the Canadiens, Petry totaled 28-71-99.

Where are the Canadians?

The Canadiens (4-1-2) just lost 4-3 in overtime against the Senators on Saturday night in Ottawa. The Canadians placed 15th in the NHL in attack as Tuesday night's game approached, averaging 3.29 goals per game and 10th in defense, averaging 2.71. They placed 21st in the power play (17.2%), 23rd in penalties (72.7%) and were last in the league to 31 teams in the playoffs with only 42.6%.

Tomas Tatar led the Canadiens in scoring with a total of 3-5-8, followed by Paul Byron (4-3-7), Max Domi (2-4-6), Jeff Petry (0-6-6) ) and Brendan Gallagher (4-1-5).

Price recorded a 2-1-2 record with an average of 2.57 goals allowed and an efficiency percentage of 0.904, while substitute Antti Niemi was 2-0-0 with an average of 2, 88 points and a percentage of efficiency of 0.893.

Where are the flames

The Flames (5-3-0) have just won a 4-1 win over the Rangers on Sunday in New York. The Flames placed sixth in the NHL in attack ahead of Tuesday night's game, scoring an average of 3.75 goals per game and placing 16th in defense, allowing them an average of 3.00 . They placed 18th on the power play (18.2%), 15th (79.3%) and 8th (52.3%).

Gaudreau led the Flames with a total of 5-7-12, followed by Matthew Tkachuk (3-7-10), Elias Lindholm (5-3-8), Sean Monahan (4-4-8) and Mark Giordano ( 1-6-7).

And after?

The Canadians have a training scheduled at 10:45 am Wednesday at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard before heading back Thursday night against the Sabers Buffalo (19h, TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio) and Saturday night against the Bruins in Boston (19h , SN1, CITY, TVA Sports, radio TSN 690).

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