In the preparation games the rivalries are no less strong. The Ottawa Senators sent a strong team to the Bell Center to take on the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday. We’ll see if the Toronto Maple Leafs also arrive at the duels on Friday and Saturday with bad intentions. Regardless, players are always a little more motivated when facing one of their big rivals.

“It’s easy to get up against them on a game day,” Canadian forward Josh Anderson said Thursday. It doesn’t matter if it’s a preseason game, a season game or a playoff game, it will attract attention. »

The Canadiens players banded together against the Senators and didn’t give up despite numerous hits on the shoulder and some dangerous plays.

Most Atlantic Division teams acquired strong or high-character players in the offseason. If some expected games in the NHL to be a little more physical this season, the Canadiens players didn’t make much of it on Thursday.

“We’ll see,” Anderson said happily. Yes, yesterday’s game was physically demanding [mercredi], but this can change from game to game depending on the opponent. For our part, we want to play hockey and try to win games. »

The Toronto Maple Leafs have added more weight to their roster by signing Ryan Reaves. They also added agitators in Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi. The Bruins, for their part, brought back Milan Lucic. Not to mention brothers Matthew and Brady Tkachuk, who play for the Florida Panthers and Senators, respectively.

“It seems like every team in our section has been trying to make weight,” Brendan Gallagher said. I think the presence of Arber [Xhekaj] has a lot to do with it. »

“He left his mark during camp with his physical play. He did it a lot in games against the Senators, and I think that explains what happened yesterday. And it shows the impact he has on the league early in his career. He is considered one of the toughest guys on the race track. I think every team in our section has tried to get a guy that can answer them,” Gallagher continued.

However, head coach Martin St-Louis reminded that it is not just up to Xhekaj or any other specific player to take care of the opposing bigs. He hopes that the entire team will show unity. “This is nothing new and part of the reality of our sport,” St-Louis recalled. You have to have pack spirit. If an opponent attacks one of our players, we must all be ready to respond. »

Pezzetta adjusts the setting

Canadian forward Michael Pezzetta sought to mitigate a situation on Thursday that could have put him in a sticky position.

He mentioned that he doesn’t want a “rematch” against Reaves, contrary to what a Montreal newspaper suggested in the headline of an article earlier this week.

After reiterating that he enjoyed this type of challenge, Pezzetta mentioned on Saturday that he hoped to look better than he did the first time, on November 16, 2021, when he had to throw down the gloves in front of the Maple Leafs’ new tough guy He had suffered a correction against Reaves, who was then wearing the colors of the New York Rangers.

The 25-year-old Ontario native wanted to bring that nuance to avoid being targeted in the next game against Reaves and the Leafs.

To watch in the video