
Montreal Canadiens News

Byron appeared to be close to returning to the lineup when he was a full participant in Friday's practice, but he'll remain in Montreal while the team travels to Western Canada next week. Ryan Poehling will remain in Montreal's lineup with Byron out.

Matheson was a surprising healthy scratch on Thursday but head coach Joel Quenneville said that he'll be back in the lineup vs. the Bruins. After posting back-to-back 27-point seasons, Matheson is on pace for just nine points in 2019-20.

Matheson has had a tough season so far, scoring just one goal with two assists in 25 games. Matheson played just 13:41 TOI on Tuesday and will be scratched in favour of Mark Pysyk on Thursday night. Coach Quenneville called it “not an easy thing to do," especially when you consider that Matheson has seven years left on a deal that carries a $4.875M AAV cap-hit.

Kahkonen allowed two goals on 33 shots in the Wild's shootout loss to the Ducks on Tuesday. Kahkonen has been simply spectacular since coming up from the AHL, going 2-0-1 with a 1.95 GAA and .947 SV% in his first three career starts. It's never easy to face Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl but you can do worse than Kahkonen on Thursday night.

Kahkonen allowed two goals on 46 shots in the Wild's win in Florida last Tuesday. It was a terrific performance from the rookie, who has started his NHL career at 2-0 while stopping 76 of the 80 shots (.950 SV%) that he has faced so far. Tonight he faces a struggling Anaheim team that has lost 12 of their last 15 (3-8-4) games while scoring 2.53 goals per game.

Dobson has been a healthy scratch for the last five games but will replace Nick Leddy, who is out with a lower-body injury. Dobson will skate with Johnny Boychuk and is expected to see some power-play time on a unit with Mathew Barzal and co.

Kahkonen stopped 32 of 34 shots in the Wild's win in New Jersey in his NHL debut last Tuesday. The 23-year-old was 7-2-1 with a 2.47 GAA and .909 SV% when he was called-up, so he should continue to be a decent option while Devan Dubnyk is out. With that said, the Panthers have won four of their last five home games while scoring 3.80 goals per game, so it's not a great matchup for career start No.2.


Montembeault has struggled as the Panthers' backup this season, posting a 3.31 GAA and .889 SV% in five appearances. Florida sent him to the AHL to try and find his game and recalled Chris Driedger, who has an impressive .938 SV% in the AHL this year.



Blais suffered the injury during the Blues' 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. Blais will be re-evaluated in 10 weeks, which means he could miss more than two and a half months. To replace Blais, the Blues announced that they've signed veteran Troy Brouwer to a one-year deal.

Devan Dubnyk missed Wednesday's practice for personal reasons, so Kahkonen comes up and will likely serve as Alex Stalock's backup on Thursday.

Byron suffered a knee injury in Washington on Friday and it will require surgery on Tuesday. Bryon will miss several weeks and will likely be moved to IR so Montreal can call-up reinforcements from Laval (AHL). Someone like Ryan Poehling is a logical replacement for Byron.

Byron will come out of the lineup due to a lower-body injury that he suffered last night in Washington. With Byron out, Jesperi Kotkaniemi will be making his return to the lineup.

Dach played in 10 straight games, registering three points (1G / 2A) and 10 shots while playing 11:06 ATOI. Head coach Jeremy Colliton told reporters that "scratching [Dach] was part of the development plan." He will be replaced by Dominik Kubalik.


Texier missed four games with a knee injury that he suffered in Philadelphia on October 26th. A combination of Jakob Lilja and Kole Sherwood helped replace Texier, who will reclaim his spot in the Columbus bottom-6 in Arizona on Thursday night. Texier has two goals on 15 shots (13.3 SH%) and one assist in 11 games this season.

Matheon has missed the last five games but with Corey Stillman heading back to the AHL on Tuesday, it paved the way for Matheson's return vs. The Capitals. He has had a slow offensive start to the season, pointing a single assist in nine games.
