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Defenceman Jordan Harris will be a game-time decision for Habs on Sunday night against the Canucks after suffering an upper-body injury.
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The Canadiens called defenceman Gustav Lindström up from the AHL’s Laval Rocket ahead of Sunday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).
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The decision to call Lindström up came after defenceman Jordan Harris suffered an upper-body injury during Saturday night’s 3-2 overtime win over the Boston Bruins at the Bell Centre. Head coach Martin St. Louis said Harris will be a game-time decision against the Canucks, who are coming off a 5-2 loss to the Maple Leafs on Saturday night in Toronto.
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In order to make room for Lindström on the roster, the Canadiens sent forward Joel Armia down to the Rocket. Armia started this season with the Rocket, posting 4-1-5 totals in five games before getting called up by the Canadiens. Armia scored a goal in his first game with the Canadiens, but went pointless in his next five. Lindstrom has no points in four games with the Rocket and had no points in two games with the Canadiens earlier this season.
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The Canadiens have a 7-5-2 record, while the Canucks are 10-3-1.
Jake Allen will start in goal for the Canadiens, while Casey DeSmith gets the start for the Canucks. Allen has a a 3-2-1 record with a 3.35 goals-against average and a .910 save percentagge.
The Canadiens acquired DeSmith in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins this summer and then dealt him to the Canucks in exchange for forward Tanner Pearson. DeSmith has a 3-0-1 record with the Canucks, along with a 2.82 GAA and a .919 save percentage. Pearson has 3-3-6 totals in 14 games with the Canadiens while playing on a line with Sean Monahan and Brendan Gallagher.
Cole Caufield leads the Canadiens in scoring with 5-9-14 totals, followed by Nick Suzuki (6-7-13), Monahan (6-6-12), Mike Matheson (3-8-11) and Gallagher (5-3-8).
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“They got a lot of good players over there,” Pearson told reporters at the Bell Centre on Sunday morning when asked about the Canucks. “They’re obviously playing well and their goalie tandem (including Thatcher Demko) is playing really well, too. It’s definitely going to be a good test for us tonight.”
Elias Pettersson leads the Canucks in scoring and also leads the NHL with 7-18-25 totals, followed by Quinn Hughes (5-17-22), J.T. Miller (9-12-21) and Brock Boeser (11-5-16). Hughes leads all NHL defencemen in scoring and also has the best plus/minus differential in the NHL at plus-15.
The Canucks selected Pettersson in the first round (fifth overall) of the 2017 NHL Draft. They took Hughes in the first round (seventh overall) of the 2018 draft, the year the Canadiens took Jesperi Kotkaniemi with the No. 3 overall pick. Kotkaniemi has 6-7-13 totals in 15 games this season with the Carolina Hurricanes.
“He skates so well,” Pearson said about the 24-year-old Hughes, who is now captain of the Canucks. “He’s so smart. If you don’t get a piece of him he’s probably blowing by you. He has that attitude, too. He wants to be good on both sides of the puck and it’s shown this year.”
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