ST. LUDWIG | Joel Armia will never be the most talkative athlete. He could have been a star player draw me a picture Where MiMeMo.

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On Monday, after the Canadian’s training, he summed up in just 75 seconds his joy at returning to training, his impressions of the Habs’ start to the season and his appreciation for Juraj Slafkovsky’s game.

“It was nice to get back to the game on Saturday,” said Armia, refusing to lift the veil on the injury that has kept him inactive since the start of the season.

A shot by Norris

According to some video footage, he was injured when he received an accidental stick from Josh Norris during the Oct. 4 preseason game at Bell Center against the Senators.

Therefore, he attended the first eight games of the Habs from the bridge. A season opener to which the Habs added a win on Saturday to take their record to 5-4-0.

Let’s assume that nobody expected this kind of departure. Except for the main actors, of course, including Armia.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all because we have a good team,” said Armia. I love everything about this team. It’s a good group of players. There are hardworking, skillful players. A little bit of everything. »

A gradual return

And Slafkowski?

“He’s a very good player. »

For this return to the game, the tall Finn walked the ice for 17 minutes and 7 seconds. He was present on one of the Blues’ two power plays and found himself on the ice for Jordan Kyrou’s second goal of the night.

We can speak of a successful gradual return of the 29-year-old forward.

“I really liked his first match. Army is a guy with a large physique and multiple skills. You can trust him, said Martin St-Louis. In addition, he almost scored a goal in the third period. »

Joel Edmundson was still at his post, clad in a navy blue sweater that shielded him from all contact. No further details have been released about the health of the defender, who has been suffering from a lower back injury since the start of the training camp.