Montreal Canadiens Training Camp: And So It Starts...

On day four of the Montreal Canadiens training camp, team 2 was slotted to practice this morning. When the group stepped onto the ice, it didn't take long for those in attendance to notice that Patrik Laine was not present. The team published an update on its X account simply stating that the big Finn was benefiting from a therapy day. This is interesting as he left the ice unscathed yesterday after Team 2 lost to Team 3.

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Today was the first proper practice for that group, as it had already played its two scrimmages on the previous days. The lack of proper practice prior to the games may go some way toward explaining how that which featured Patrik Laine, Kirby Dach, Alex Newhook, Owen Beck, Arber Xhekaj, and Samuel Montembeault lost both duels.

Their practice was very much the same as what we've seen over the last two days: a lot of odd-man rushes, some breakaways, and also some three-on-three action from in close without being able to go above the faceoff dots.

The scrimmage featured team 1 (Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Lane Hutson, and Logan Mailloux, to name a few) and team 3 (Brendan Gallagher, Jake Evans, Joel Armia, Josh Anderson, Christian Dvorak, and David Reinbacher, amongst others).

For the second day in a row, team 3 won, this time by a 2-1 score. Once again, the Gallagher, Evans, and Armia line was the most noticeable on the winning side. It's obvious that these players know each other already and have plenty of chemistry.

The latter two got a goal, while Gallagher was kept off the scoresheet but was instrumental in both markers. In his post-game availability, the alternate captain explained how he felt about the camp starting right away with NHL lines:

We're trying to get going here, you don't have much time before the season. I know it feels like a long time because we haven't even played a preseason game but once that time comes, you're trying to take advantage of every day at the same time you're trying to personally feel good and get your legs under you, you're trying to work on chemistry, talk about some things and little situations where you know you hit the ground running game one so it's something we like for sure.

Meanwhile, Jake Evans was asked how he liked playing with Gallagher in the first two days; he smiled and said:

Meh, he's alright, it's funny I hate to say it but I do like playing with him and I love playing with him and Armia together, it's all pretty straightforward hockey. We're straightforward players, we have a little bit of skill, but we just read off each other well. Things are going well so far, don't tell him that.

Asked if it can affect the team when a veteran loses his spot in such a tight-knit group, the center replied:

I think that's just pro hockey, you just have to accept it. Obviously you welcome the new guy and you just feel for the guy who lost his spot, but that's just pro hockey and you just have to deal with it.

Cayden Primeau was in net for the first half of the game for the victorious side and turned aside every single shot he received. He was in a cheery mood when he met the media; talking about the last few seconds of the game, he explained:

I don't know if you guys could hear on the other side, but with 10 seconds left someone started counting down the seconds from our bench, that might be the funniest thing I've ever seen in a scrimmage.

This upcoming season, the young netminder has no hope or expectation regarding his deployment. He just intends to build on the performance he provided last year and prove himself every day. When he was asked about how he trained this Summer and if he had done anything special, like Montembeault training in an antigravity machine, as reported by La Presse, he got wide-eyed and said, "Oh no, that's not for me."

Related: Canadiens: Martin St-Louis and the French Fact This will be used as the H1.

As for Martin St-Louis, he spoke about how he talked to Josh Anderson this Summer and told him that he needed to turn the page and do the little things that would help to make sure it didn't happen again. He lamented how unlucky he was in the early goings and how that hurt his confidence early on.

On Luke Tuch, who's been throwing his body around, the bench boss said that it's important for a young player to know what they are and accept it. Going back to his own experience, he recalled that going into a training camp, he would look around and try to identify what the team was missing. He believes that Tuch's physical side is something the Canadiens could add to their team.

Related: Montreal Canadiens Training Camp: Don't Tell Them They're on the Fourth Line

Speaking of Tuch, when the goaltender was pulled in the last two minutes of the game, he was deployed as the sixth skater to try to tie the score. The other five skaters were Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkovsky, Justin Barron, and Laine Hutson. Tuch's role was to create a screen in front of the net. They couldn't tie the score, but it was still a vote of confidence from the coach to ask him to do that.

While the top line was kept off the scoresheet, they did manage some impressive passing plays. However, Primeau was there to frustrate them in the first period, and Hunter Jones did the rest of the game.

Related: Top 5 Finnish-born Players in Canadiens History

Once again today, Hutson was very active, trying all kinds of things offensively, and he got the fans cheering when he made a lobbed pass to Emil Heineman. The forward didn't score, but the fans still applauded the young defender's awareness. Justin Barron was much more visible today, joining into the attack much more as if to show he, too, could do it.

On Reinbacher, St-Louis said he likes how the youngster is able to shake off a mistake when he makes one; he never turns it into two, three, or four mistakes. Camp continues tomorrow with another scrimmage featuring the same teams as today since they both beat team 2, which is condemned to practice for two days in a row. It will be interesting to see if Laine is back on the ice tomorrow. Watch this space.

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