TORONTO - The Canadiens held a morning skate at Scotiabank Arena ahead of Wednesday night's matchup against the Maple Leafs.
Following the on-ice session, forward Brendan Gallagher and head coach Claude Julien met the media.
Here are a few highlights from their Zoom-based Q&A with reporters:
Even with a shortened training camp, Gallagher insists this edition of the Canadiens has managed to come together rather quickly - and the group is committed to starting the season on the right foot:
I'm sure every team has definitely put some emphasis on the start with a shortened season. You're never really going to know, but for us, we have confidence in the fact - it kind of feels like all the new guys we've integrated into our group, it feels like they've been here all along and just part of the team, one of the guys now, and we just have a job to do. I think everyone's excited for the season and we're optimistic, but the job's still on us to go out and do it. We're playing in a very competitive division. The team we're playing tonight is a big part of that. It's a team that we're going to see a lot this year. You've got to make sure that you set the tone early on and hopefully we can come together as a team.
The Habs' alternate captain says the Maple Leafs always present a formidable test and games like these are easy to get up for:
It's a lot of fun. You get excited for this game, for sure. It's been a while since we've actually started the year against Toronto. When I first came in the League, it seemed like we started every year against them and it was always a fun game to be a part of. It's something these new guys are going to get to understand, the Montreal-Toronto rivalry, pretty quickly. I think especially with the division format, it'll be a lot of fun for us players to be a part of. It's going to be competitive and emotional. But if you don't enjoy it, I guess you're playing the wrong sport.
Video: Gallagher on the team's chemistry amid the pandemic
The Canadiens must keep their emotions in check, though, and avoid the penalty box if they're going to leave the rink with two points in the bank:
It's going to be interesting. Games are usually called a little bit differently early on in the year. Usually you see a lot of power plays early on. The closer and closer you get to the end of the season and the playoffs, those power plays, the calls seem to change a little bit. There's a little bit of a different standard, so early on you know the refs are probably going to be looking for stuff to kind of set the tone, so just to be moving our feet. We're playing a team that's going to skate really well, that's going to move the puck. There might be some temptations to take penalties, but we've got to be prepared to work and stay out of those positions where you're taking those needless penalties, especially in their zone. There are times when you need to take one, obviously, but the more we can stay out of the box, this power play has hurt us before and we don't want to let that happen again.
For his part, Julien doesn't expect the fact that the building will be empty to have any impact whatsoever on the tempo of play:
It's compensated by the number of times we're going to play against each team. We're playing 10 games against the Maple Leafs during the 56-game season. We'll definitely create a rivalry without having fans throwing more fuel on the fire. I fully expect it to start tonight. These are two teams that want to show what they're capable of this year.
Video: Julien on improving special teams
The veteran bench boss would love to see his special teams units deliver a solid performance, if called upon. Their success is going to be criticial all season long:
We want our power play and our penalty kill to be better. It's going to be a good test tonight. The Maple Leafs have a good power play. We hope to be disciplined and limit their chances with the man advantage. We hope that both units will be better this year because it'll likely be a difference-maker.
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