The Canadiens announced Monday morning that forward Joshua Roy has been called up from the AHL’s Laval Rocket.
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Roy practised with the Canadiens Monday at the CN Sports Complex in Brossard as they prepared to face the Utah Hockey Club Tuesday at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS). The Canadiens are coming off a 6-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights Saturday night at the Bell Centre that dropped their record to 7-11-2. The Canadiens are in last place in the Atlantic Division and rank 31st in the overall NHL standings, tied with the Chicago Blackhawks (7-12-2) for the fewest points.
Forward Patrik Laine, who hasn’t played a game this season after suffering a sprained knee during a 2-1 pre-season loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sept. 28, practised for the first time with a full-contact sweater Monday. Laine practised with his teammates last Thursday and Friday while wearing a non-contact sweater.
Roy was among the final cuts by the Canadiens at training camp this season. In 17 games with the Rocket, the 6-foot, 192-pound winger had 8-8-16 totals to lead the team in scoring. Roy had a goal and two assists Saturday night as the Rocket beat the Senators 3-1 in Belleville, improving their record to 13-3-1 under new head coach Pascal Vincent. The Canadiens selected Roy in the fifth round (150th overall) of the 2021 NHL Draft. Roy played 23 games with the Canadiens last season, posting 4-5-9 totals.
Roy skated on a line at practice Monday with centre Jake Evans and Emil Heineman, while Laine was on a line with centre Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield with Alex Newhook rotating in. It would be surprising if Laine plays Tuesday night against Utah after having only one full practice in a contact sweater.
The other two lines at practice had Kirby Dach between Juraj Slafkovsky and Joel Armia and Christian Dvorak between Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher. Dach has played most of this season on the wing and has only one goal and seven assists in 20 games to go along with a team-worst minus-15 differential. He hasn’t scored a goal in the last 12 games.
Slafkovsky is also struggling this season with only one goal and 10 assists in 17 games. He hasn’t scored a goal in his last 13 games.
Defenceman Mike Matheson did not take part in Monday’s practice, taking a therapy day instead. Matheson leads the Canadiens in ice time, averaging 24:05 per game.
After playing Utah Tuesday night, the Canadiens will hit the road for their next three games, playing the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday (7:30 p.m., SNE, RDS), the New York Rangers on Saturday (1 p.m., TSN2, RDS) and the Boston Bruins on Sunday (3 p.m., SN, RDS).