Canadiens vs. Blackhawks: Preseason — Thread, roster & lines

After going over 4 months without seeing the Habs play a game, the Canadiens Jersey will play their second game in two nights, and second game of a 3-game-in-3-nights stretch as they head to Toronto tomorrow to take on the Leafs.

Most players who were in the game last night will sit this evening, with the exception of Charles Hudon, Brian Flynn, Nathan Beaulieu and Bret Lernout. Despite taking the Capitals to overtime last night, the Canadiens were outshot 43-25, even though they threw 53 shots towards the net (while giving up 64 shot attempts to the Capitals).

The Blackhawks have played 2 preseason games thus far, both against the Red Wings, winning the first match in overtime 5-4, and then dropping their encounter Wednesday night by a score of 4-1. As this is a cross-border away game for the Blackhawks, a few key players will be missing from their lineup including Jonathan Teows and Patrick Kane who did not make the trip to Montreal.

Canadiens’ Galchenyuk finding chemistry at centre with Semin, Eller

When the Montreal Canadiens Jersey announced that Alex Galchenyuk will play centre this season, most assumed David Desharnais would be the one moved to left wing.

Not so. It was Lars Eller, the team’s dependable third-line pivot who has been a centre for nearly all his five seasons in Montreal, who was bumped to the wing on what coach Michel Therrien hopes will be a strong second line with Galchenyuk and new right-winger Alex Semin.

For Eller, a 26-year-old Dane, it must have felt like a promotion and a setback at the same time.

“I’m not going to go into what my feelings were at the time,” Eller said Thursday. “All I’m going to say is I’m excited to be in this position and I think it can be really good.

“I’ve played wing before. The majority of time I’ve played centre but it’s not unfamiliar territory for me.”

Kudos to Subban

I was surprised that The Star made no mention of the gift P.K. Subban Jersey gave to the Montreal hospital.

It would be very interesting to know how much money stars like Bobby and Brett Hull, Sidney Crosby, Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe, etc. all good Canadian super stars, gave out of their own pockets to Canadian charities or not-for-profit institutions.

All of these men made much more than Subban.

You had a picture of Gretzky with our prime minister, although not one penny came out of his pocket. Howe, who we just named a bridge after, how many dollars has he given back to Canada? I know these guys will lend their name to a golf tournament to raise money for various charities, but this costs them nothing.

Yet, Subban gets no mention from our newspaper.

You should hang your head. It is disgusting.

Toronto Maple Leafs’ Jake Gardiner scores in overtime to beat Montreal Canadiens in pre-season game

MONTREAL — Jake Gardiner already likes the NHL’s new overtime format.

The Leafs were only 16 seconds into a 4-on-3 overtime advantage when Gardiner scored the winner to lift the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 2-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens Jersey in NHL pre-season play on Tuesday night.

The teams were supposed to be playing 3-against-3, but Montreal’s Devante Smith-Pelley took a tripping penalty with 37 seconds left in regulation time. In that situation, instead of playing 3-on-2, the teams go four against three.

“It’s exciting as it is,” said Gardiner. “It’s great for the league, especially when you can start on the power play. You’re pretty much expected to score.”

Gardiner also set up a pretty goal by William Nylander on a 2-on-1 in regulation time to tie the game after Michael McCarron scored in the first frame for Montreal.

Toronto coach Mike Babcock said Gardiner was “our best player by a mile,” and also had praise for Nylander, Nikita Soshnikov and young defencemen Travis Dermott and Andrew Neilson, among others.

“It’s not an NHL game, but our guys hung in there and we found a way to win in Montreal,” Babcock said.

In overtime, Gardiner took a feed from Brad Boyes and lifted a shot over Zach Fucale from close range.

McCarron broke alone to pick up a ricochet of Jeff Petry’s shot into the slot and beat Antoine Bibeau 15:45 into the first frame.

Nylander was Toronto’s most dangerous forward all game and he was rewarded with 29 seconds left in the second period when he went in on a two-on-one, fed Gardiner and got the pass back for a tap-in goal on Fucale.

Canadiens' Galchenyuk, Eller, Semin showing great chemistry at training camp

Two of the players are skating in new positions, a third brand new to the chandail des canadiens with plenty to prove to the club and to himself.

But after three days of training camp and a few scrimmages, how can you not be at least a little impressed with the line of Alex Galchenyuk between Lars Eller and Alexander Semin?

Galchenyuk, at centre, scored twice and added an assist Sunday in the Canadiens’ annual Red vs. White scrimmage at the Bell Centre, a 6-2 victory for the Whites.

Eller, at left wing, had a goal and three assists, his third coming in 3-on-3 action; Semin, the newcomer on the right side, assisted on both of Galchenyuk’s goals, the first on a lovely feed, the second coming off the rebound of his shot.

“We seem to fit in quite well there,” Galchenyuk would say post-game. “It’s only Day 3, but we feel good about ourselves.

“We know there’s a lot of work to be done and a lot of areas to improve, but we’re definitely happy with our start and we’re excited. We’re trying to make plays out there and it’s working for us.”

Eller has had an outstanding start to this camp, and it surely hasn’t hurt his focus knowing upon arrival that the Canadiens wanted him on the wing. That beats starting at centre and maybe or maybe not being shuffled on his line.

Canadiens’ Bournival suffering from post-concussion syndrome

BROSSARD, Que.— This was supposed to be a bounce back year for Michael Bournival.

After making his NHL debut in 2013 and leading all Montreal rookies in scoring with 14 points in 60 regular season games before appearing in 14 of the Canadiens Jersey’ 17 Stanley Cup playoff games in 2014, injuries robbed Bournival of the opportunity to make his mark in the 2014-15 season.

Depth on Monreal’s bottom two lines made it hard for him to break through in October, leaving Bournival as a scratch for the majority of the month before the Canadiens tapped him for a game in November.

Then this happened.

A month later, Bournival was back in Montreal’s lineup, but having to play catch-up proved impossible. He was relegated to less than nine minutes of ice-time in all but four of his 29 games with the Canadiens before he was eventually demoted to the Hamilton Bulldogs in late February.

But after appearing in only five games with the Bulldogs his season was over. As it turned out, Bournival had been hiding symptoms of dizziness from a concussion. He even played through it in his final games with the Canadiens before the demotion.

In May, he told reporters that he had been cleared of concussion symptoms. And on July 16, without much bargaining power on his side, Bournival was forced to accept a one-year, two-way contract worth $600,000.

If there’s a silver lining to this story it’s that the Canadiens will risk exposing Bournival to waivers if they elected to demote him to the AHL at any point this season. The sense was that he’d be given a real opportunity to stick with the team, and if not, he’d probably get his chance with another NHL team.

But when the Canadiens opened training camp on Wednesday, and the players got set for physical testing, Bournival began to feel the lingering symptoms of post-concussion syndrome.

He had participated in a few exercises before failing his neurological exam. As a result, Bournival is now being held out indefinitely by team physicians.

"For sure [I’m disappointed for Bournival]," said coach Michel Therrien Saturday. "He’s a kid that works really hard."

This isn’t the first time Bournival has had to deal with this. A concussion kept the 23-year-old out of action from Feb. 7 to March 23 in his NHL rookie season.

Max Pacioretty named Canadiens' captain

Max Pacioretty is the new captain of the chandail des canadiens.

The high-scoring forward won a vote by his fellow players to become the 29th captain in franchise history, the team announced Friday.

P.K. Subban, Andrei Markov, Tomas Plekanec and Brendan Gallagher will serve as alternate captains, the Canadiens said.

"To have the support of my teammates was one of the top feelings of my life," said Pacioretty Jersey, who opened the news conference to announce his captaincy by saying in French that those four players would also have been good choices for the role.

Montreal did not have a captain last season, instead going with several alternates, including Pacioretty, Subban, Markov and Plekanec.

Pacioretty, 26, is heading into his eighth NHL season, all with Montreal. He led the Canadiens in points each of the last four years, and topped them in goals the last three.

Last season Pacioretty had 37 goals and 30 assists in 80 regular-season games. He added another five goals and two assists in 11 playoff games as Montreal reached the second round.

The native of New Canaan, Conn., becomes the third U.S.-born player to wear the "C" on his jersey in team history, following Brian Gionta (2010-14) and Chris Chelios, who was a co-captain with Guy Carbonneau in 1989-90.

Pacioretty won the Bill Masterton trophy in 2012 as the "player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey" after coming back from a devastating hit delivered by Boston's Zdeno Chara that left Pacioretty with a concussion and a fractured vertebra.

Subban donation resonates for Canadiens, Quebec

BROSSARD, Quebec -- P.K. Subban made his boss proud.

Montreal Canadiens owner and president Geoff Molson said Thursday he was impressed by Subban Jersey's commitment of a $10 million donation to the Montreal Children's Hospital Foundation, and that it allowed many people to see a side of the star defenseman they might not have known before.

Molson was asked if Subban will be looked at differently now that he has added the position of philanthropist to his resume.

"As a hockey player, no. As a person, probably yes," Molson said Thursday at a press conference to announce a real estate project. "He spoke from the heart [Wednesday] and it was impressive. We learned a lot about P.K. [Wednesday]."
The Canadiens opened training camp with physicals and testing Thursday.

In light of general manager Marc Bergevin's announcement that the Canadiens will name a captain by the end of camp after going without one last season, Subban's announcement Wednesday became a part of that public debate, even if the donation had nothing to do with that.

Canadiens prospect Johnston puts university on hold for shot at pro hockey

Ryan Johnston had a simple plan when he showed up at the Canadiens development camp in July.

The 23-year-old defenceman was heading back to Colgate University for his senior year, but was hoping to make enough of an impression that he would get a chance to try out for the Canadiens Jersey when he graduated.

“I went to the New Jersey development camp the previous summer and Scott Masters, who is the Canadiens’ college scout, started talking to me and I couldn’t pass up the chance to attend the Canadiens camp,” Johnston said.

“I had a pretty good camp and Scott talked to me and then I talked to (assistant general manager Larry Carrière) and two days later they offered me a contract.”

It was a two-year, entry-level deal and Johnston decided to accept it and put his pursuit of a geology degree on hold.

Johnston grew up in a hockey-playing family in Sudbury, Ont., and decided to go the Tier II and U.S. college route, following in the path of his four older siblings. In addition to being a family tradition, it was a question of size.

Johnston believed he needed to get bigger and stronger and felt a U.S. college career would help him in that respect rather than playing junior hockey.

“Colgate was good for me because they gave me the time to develop,” Johnston said. “You can make mistakes and the coaches are patient. Colgate is a good school and it was a great experience.”

Johnston is still small. He’s listed at 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds, but those measurements seem generous. However, Johnston said he makes up for his lack of size with other assets.

“I’m fast and I make a quick first pass,” said Johnston, who impressed the Canadiens with his play during a four-team rookie tournament in London, Ont., last weekend.

Johnston, who grew up as an Ottawa Senators fan, has hockey in his blood. His uncle, Mike Johnston, is a career coach who is currently the head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins. His sister Kathleen played hockey and soccer at Harvard and was a member of Canada’s national soccer team. Sisters Sarah and Rebecca and brother Jacob all played hockey at Cornell. Rebecca won gold medals as part of Canada’s national women’s team at the Vancouver and Sochi Winter Olympics.

Shift to Center Sets Alex Galchenyuk Up for Big Season

Montreal Canadiens forward Alex Galchenyuk has had quite the year so far.

In March, the former third-overall draft pick reached the 20-goal plateau for the first time in his career. Just a few months later, he signed a two-year, $5.6 million contract to remain in Montreal–a bridge deal that could turn out quite well for Galchenyuk should he continue to progress offensively over the next two seasons.

It seems he’ll get all the opportunity needed to do just that, as Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin indicated recently that Galchenyuk will suit up primarily as a centreman in 2015-16.

While he was drafted as a pivot back in 2012, Galchenyuk has been used primarily on the wing so far in Montreal. He played most often alongside Tomas Plekanec and Brendan Gallagher last season (per LeftWingLock.com) while seeing limited time at the centre position throughout.

Galchenyuk did have a few moments of brilliance playing as the team’s lead pivot, however. After being moved up in December to centre the first line between Max Pacioretty and Brendan Gallagher, Galchenyuk strung together four goals and nine points in nine games, establishing some exceptional chemistry with Pacioretty before being moved back to the wing for the rest of 2014-15.

A permanent move to the middle of the ice seems to set the young Milwaukee native up for a strong offensive season, if for no other reason than it means he’ll likely suit up alongside Pacioretty once again, and will get more time to establish that promising chemistry.