MONTREAL — Paul Byron’s returning from injury at a time the Montreal Canadiens need him, with another chance to clinch a playoff spot on offer and a matchup against Connor McDavid and an Edmonton Oilers team that’s won seven of its last 10 games at hand.
“For sure I’m mentally more fresh, physically more fresh than the other guys, and tonight I hope I can bring some speed, some energy and really give the team a boost coming back,” said the winger who missed the last nine games with a lower-body injury. “I think that’s the best part of my game and something I’m certainly capable of bringing tonight.”
It’s what the Canadiens will have to feed off, coming off three consecutive losses in which their energy level was clearly sub-optimal.
They have two only two games remaining in a schedule that Byron said has challenged them in an unprecedented way.
“There’s no training in the world that could prepare us for what we’ve faced this year,” he said, and it’s a tough statement to debate.
Monday’s game will be Montreal’s 24th since March 30, with no other team in the North Division playing more than 19 over that stretch. It’ll be played at the Bell Centre after a trip through Ontario — and a nine-day run through Alberta that preceded the team’s last home stand — and the Canadiens will once again be without Carey Price (concussion), Phillip Danault (concussion), Shea Weber (upper-body injury) and Brendan Gallagher (thumb injury).
The good news is coach Dominique Ducharme said after Monday’s morning skate that all four players are expected to return for the playoffs, which the Canadiens can clinch by earning a point against Edmonton over their next two games, via the Vancouver Canucks failing to win all of their remaining games in regulation or by the Calgary Flames missing out on all the remaining points up for grabs in the standings. The bad news is none of them will be available before the regular season wraps Wednesday.
That’s going to make containing McDavid an even more difficult endeavour than it usually is.
The 24-year-old was held to zero goals and just two points through the first five Montreal-Edmonton games this season, but he put up a goal and two assists in each of the last two meetings, and has been on one of the biggest tears of his prolific career to date since just before then.
McDavid had 25 points in a nine-game sequence that started with the one he played against Montreal on April 19, and he put up four points last Saturday to hit the 100-point mark in his 53rd game of the season.
The Canadiens played him well with Danault, Gallagher, Weber and Price available, but they’ll have to face him now with Byron, Jake Evans, Artturi Lehkonen, Joel Edmundson, Jeff Petry and Jake Allen taking on the bulk of the responsibility.
“When you play a special player who’s having a year like him, it forces you to be at your best because you know at any given point in a game he’s so dangerous,” said Byron. “One turnover, one mistake and the puck could end up in the back of your net.
“Every time he steps on the ice, the way he can skate, the way he can move, the way he can read the play makes him such a threat. Everyone on the team is so alert and aware of what he means to their team and how dangerous he can be. So, it’s not just one guy that needs to go out there and shut him down — it needs to be a group effort. The five guys on the ice making sure you’re doing your job or staying above him and trying the best you can to limit his time and space. He’s a special player, he’s going to get around you, he’s going to find ways to do things other players just can’t. That’s what makes him the best player in the world right now. It’s a group challenge and I think our team really does well with it, and we expect another big one here tonight with him.”
Ducharme wants the Canadiens to rise to the occasion, regardless of who they’re facing.
“We have a way of playing, a style of play, a structure and an attitude we want to play with,” he said. “It’s what I’m expecting when our guys step on the ice tonight.”
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That’s going to require everyone.
Nick Suzuki and Tyler Toffoli have been bringing their best every night. The former has scored in eight of the last nine games, tallying five goals and 12 points. The latter, who leads the Canadiens with 28 goals this season, has at least a point in each of his last six games and has scored seven goals and 12 points since the team’s last game against the Oilers.
Things haven’t been going nearly as well for Jesperi Kotaniemi and Josh Anderson, who will be on a line with Tomas Tatar to start Monday’s game. Kotkaniemi has gone 22 games without a goal and Anderson has gone his last 10 without a point.
You think about the style both players need to play — fast and physical — and it’s clear the unforgiving schedule (and the Canadiens being so short-handed) has been particularly demanding on them.
But Monday’s game presents a new opportunity, and Anderson alluded to how he, Kotkaniemi and others can take advantage of it.
“You’ve got to create your own energy sometimes, obviously,” he said. “This year, without fans, it’s hard to get that adrenaline going and everything like that, but you’ve got to find ways to win. That’s why we’re in this league.
“We’ve just got to go out there and compete and find energy off each other, and I think that we’ll be fine.”
The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. ET start on Sportsnet West and SN Now.
