Whether it’s the spate of injuries sustained, the years of losing or having a small team in past seasons that was pushed around, Canadiens players and management clearly have had enough.
That was never more evident than during Tuesday night’s Bell Centre pre-season game against Ottawa. Emotions escalated in the first period following Ridly Greig’s hit to the head of Canadiens centre Kirby Dach, who went to the dressing room for observation before returning for the start of the second period.
“I didn’t really see him coming. I didn’t have the puck and he kind of blindsided me,” Dach said Wednesday after an early-morning practice at the CN Sports Complex in Brossard. “He hits me clean in the jaw. I don’t think it was a hockey play.”
Obviously, things didn’t end there.
Dach took a third-period interference penalty against Greig in the offensive zone. Seconds after emerging from the penalty box, the 6-foot-4, 221-pound Dach exacted his revenge and put a beating on Greig — four inches shorter and 33 pounds lighter — landing numerous right hands in the one-sided fight.
“The second time he came and hit me, he had both hands up,” Dach explained. “He hit me in the face and, so, I kind of snapped. I’d had enough.”
Both defenceman Jayden Struble and forward Michael Pezzetta also took their shots at Greig in the first period, but the Senators player clearly wasn’t interested in fighting. In the next period, defenceman Arber Xhekaj received a minor, major and game misconduct — his second match penalty in as many games — following his bone-crushing hit on Tim Stutzle, who lost his helmet and sustained a small cut on the bridge of his nose from his own stick.
Xhekaj wasn’t made available to the media on Wednesday. However, he won’t face any additional supplemental discipline from the NHL. He had already been fined US$3,385.42 — the maximum allowed under the CBA — for his unsportsmanlike conduct against Toronto’s Cédric Paré last Saturday.
Xhekaj was retaliating after Paré’s knee-on-knee hit against Patrik Laine, who will miss between two and three months with a sprained left knee that doesn’t require surgery. The Canadiens also lost defence prospect David Reinbacher in the same game to a knee injury that required surgery. He could miss up to six months.
Whether the Canadiens will improve on their win total this season and challenge for a playoff berth remains to be determined. But the mentality of this team appears to have changed. There’s a code of honour in hockey and it seems Montreal players will settle on-ice disputes immediately.
“When you have that kind of culture, where everyone wants to stick up for each other, you have a good room,” Pezzetta said, noting it will be important to send a message in the future without crossing the line.
While captain Nick Suzuki wasn’t dressed against the Senators, he was concerned when Dach left the ice, knowing his teammate was limited to two games last season before sustaining a serious knee injury that required surgery.
“Obviously guys were trying to stick up for Dach,” Suzuki said. “It was scary seeing him leave the ice again; it brought back some memories. The guys responded in a good way.
“The emotion of the game is always going to be there. The guys want to stick up for one another. We’re like family here. Sometimes you do things you regret right after.”
Head coach Martin St. Louis wants to see that pack mentality on the ice and in the dressing room, but admitted the players must be more calculated in the way they respond.
“I see evidence of our bond everywhere,” he said. “It’s showing at practice, in the plane, at the hotel, in the room and in games. It’s everywhere and it’s apparent in different forms. For me, you could have the most talent and the best strategy. But if you don’t have that, it’s hard to become a championship team.”
Both Brendan Gallagher and Christian Dvorak (therapy day) didn’t practise on Wednesday. Josh Anderson, who didn’t practise Monday and wasn’t dressed against Ottawa, was on the ice. Defenceman Kaiden Guhle, who recently had his appendix removed, was a full-contact participant at practice.
The team left for Mont-Tremblant following practice and will play its final exhibition game Saturday night in Ottawa. Given what transpired on Tuesday, St. Louis might be reticent to ice a veteran-heavy roster against the Senators. Montreal begins its regular season at home next Wednesday against Toronto.