They waited for three games, but on Sunday the Canadiens decided to call someone up from the AHL’s Laval Rocket to replace injured forward Emil Heineman.
That someone is Owen Beck, who had 9-16-25 totals in 37 games this season with the Rocket as an AHL rookie.
Heineman suffered an upper-body injury (wrist) Monday when he was struck by a car as a pedestrian in Utah. Michael Pezzetta replaced Heineman for Tuesday’s 5-3 win over the Utah Hockey Club, Thursday’s 3-1 win over the Stars in Dallas and Saturday’s 7-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre.
But Pezzetta saw limited ice time, playing only 3:50 against Utah, 4:31 against Dallas and 2:58 against Toronto. Pezzetta had no points and no shots on goal and didn’t help his cause by taking penalties in the first period of the first two games.
This has been a difficult season for Pezzetta, who was made a healthy scratch for the first six games, played in the next three games and was then made a healthy scratch for 28 consecutive games before Patrik Laine was sidelined with the flu. Pezzetta got to play in four consecutive games before being made a healthy scratch for one more game. Pezzetta got back in the lineup after Heineman was injured.
Heineman was averaging 11:09 of ice time as a rookie while playing on the fourth line with Jake Evans and Joel Armia. Heineman had 10-7-17 totals and before getting injured the 6-foot-2, 198-pound winger was leading the Canadiens with 101 hits.
After Saturday’s loss to the Leafs, Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis was asked if the decision to not call someone up from Laval was because he felt Pezzetta deserved a chance to play regularly.
“I think he deserved to get in,” St. Louis said. “I’d like to give him more (ice time). In the second period I felt they loaded up that (top) line and stuff and you don’t know when it’s coming and you want to make sure that you have the right guys on the ice. It was not an easy game in terms of matchups the way he (Leafs coach Craig Berube) was rolling his lines and I was loading it up sometimes.
“I think Pezz deserved to have an opportunity,” St. Louis added.
Now it’s Beck who will get an opportunity, taking Pezzetta’s spot in the lineup for Sunday night’s game against the New York Rangers at the Bell Centre. The Canadiens selected Beck, a 6-foot, 199-pound forward, in the second round (33rd overall) of the 2022 NHL Draft.
Last season, Beck had 34-47-81 totals in 57 games split between the Peterborough Petes and the Saginaw Spirit in the OHL. Saginaw won the Memorial Cup championship and Beck was named the tournament MVP after scoring twice in the Spirit’s 4-3 win over the London Knights in the final.
Beck played one game with the Canadiens during the 2022-23 season when he was called up from junior on an emergency basis. He failed to register a point.