Juraj Slafkovsky won’t be in the lineup when the Canadiens face the New York Rangers Tuesday at the Bell Centre (7:15 p.m., TSN2, RDS).
The Canadiens announced Tuesday morning that Slafkovsky will be sidelined for at least a week with an upper-body injury. Slafkovsky left practice early last Friday in Brossard, favouring his left shoulder after taking a shot. The 20-year-old winger played in Saturday’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Islanders in New York, logging 15:57 of ice time and picking up two assists to give him 1-5-6 totals in six games.
The Canadiens had a day off Sunday and Slafkovsky didn’t take part in Monday’s practice at the Bell Centre. Slafkovsky skated Tuesday morning — along with Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, who is still recovering from surgery on a broken leg in July — before his teammates took part in their morning skate.
The injury to Slafkovsky means Michael Pezzetta, who was a healthy scratch for the first six games, will get in the lineup for the first time against the Rangers.
“I’m definitely fired up,” Pezzetta said after the Canadiens’ morning skate. “You just wake up in the morning and you have a purpose day like you’re going to play. It just puts a smile on your face. You’re just ready to go. I couldn’t be more excited to get out there today and really get the legs going in the regular season now.
“For me, just keep it simple today,” Pezzetta added. “I haven’t played in a couple of weeks now so it’s just keep it simple, play hard, do what I’m good at. Simple hockey. Finish my checks, bring a lot of energy to the bench and kind of get my stride going.”
Kirby Dach, who has only one assist in the first six games after recovering from a season-ending knee injury suffered in the second game last year, will take Slafkovsky’s spot on the No. 1 line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. Rookie Oliver Kapanen will take Dach’s spot on the second line with Alex Newhook and Joel Armia, while Pezzetta will take Kapanen’s spot on the fourth line with Christian Dvorak and Emil Heineman. The third line of Jake Evans between Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher will remain intact.
Head coach Martin St. Louis won’t make any changes to his defence following Saturday’s loss to the Islanders, which means Arber Xhekaj will be a healthy scratch for the second straight game.
Samuel Montembeault will start in goal for the Canadiens.
The Canadiens will hold a pregame ceremony honouring their 1970s dynasty team that won four consecutive Stanley Cups from 1976-79. Among the former Canadiens expected to be on hand are Yvan Cournoyer, Ken Dryden, Bob Gainey, Serge Savard, Mario Tremblay, Réjean Houle, Yvon Lambert, Guy Lapointe, Doug Jarvis, Pierre Bouchard, Mark Napier, Doug Risebrough, Murray Wilson and Cam Conner.
The Canadiens have a 2-3-1 record, while the Rangers are 4-0-1 and are coming off a 4-1 win over the Maple Leafs Saturday night in Toronto. If the Rangers can earn at least one point against the Canadiens they will set a franchise record for longest point streak to start a season. The Rangers have scored at least four goals in all five games this season.
The Rangers have a 3-0-1 record in their last four games against the Canadiens and are 7-2-1 in the last 10 games against Montreal dating back to February 2020. The Rangers have a 5-0-1 record in their last six games at the Bell Centre.
Pezzetta is aware that he could find himself on the ice Tuesday night against Rangers tough-guy Matt Rempe. The 6-foot-9, 255-pound Rempe has only played two games so far this season, including Saturday’s game in Toronto.
“To be honest, at this point you probably don’t even really think about it that much,” the 6-foot-1, 219-pound Pezzetta said when asked about Rempe. “Obviously, he’s on the other team, it looks like he’s playing tonight. But it’s just going to be a hard game. I’m going to finish my checks, I’m sure he’s going to be finishing his checks and if something happens where it crosses the line you got to step in there. It is what it is.
“I think at this point in my career I’ve proven I don’t really care who I’m fighting,” Pezzetta added. “You just kind of get in there. Maybe I got a couple of screws loose and you just think I can win every fight that I get into. I think that’s the mentality that I go into them with.”
After Tuesday ‘s game, the Canadiens don’t play again until Saturday when the St. Louis Blues will visit the Bell Centre (7 p.m., SNE, CITY TVA Sports). The Canadiens will fly to Philadelphia after that game and play the Flyers on Sunday (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS).