After the top two lines, the Canadiens have Jake Evans centering Brendan Gallagher and Joel Armia, while Christian Dvorak is between Joshua Roy and Josh Anderson.
As the Canadiens entered training camp, it was clear what the top two forward lines would be. It made sense to keep the successful No. 1 line of Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Cole Caufield intact, given their offensive success last season. Kirby Dach was also positioned as the center between Patrik Laine and Alex Newhook.
Head coach Martin St. Louis confirmed these lines during the first scrimmage of camp on Thursday in Brossard. The real question was how the other two lines would shape up for the regular season.
We got a glimpse of that on Friday during the second scrimmage. Jake Evans centered Team 3, flanked by Gallagher and Armia, while Dvorak led Roy and Anderson. Team 3 won 6-3, with goals from Armia, Gallagher, Anderson, Roy, Laurent Dauphin, and Xavier Simoneau, while Team 2’s goals came from William Trudeau, Jared Davidson, and Filip Mesar.
Team 3 will return to the ice Saturday for a scrimmage against Team 1 at 11:15 a.m. at the CN Sports Complex.
Dach, Laine, and Newhook didn’t score for Team 2 on Friday. This wasn’t surprising, given Dach is coming off a severe knee injury that ended his season last November, and Laine hasn’t played since December due to a broken clavicle and subsequent mental health support.
After Friday’s scrimmage, St. Louis emphasized the need for patience with Dach and Laine, highlighting the challenges of returning to the NHL after a long absence.
