It’s a practice day the morning before a road game, so the question to be answered (in time) is which group is going and which is staying.

Until then, the first group is on the ice, and it’s a serious looking crew:

We could discuss that group or just listen to this instead:

Okay, one note to puzzle over is the second line wingers. At least one reporter had them on opposite sides, but my take on this is that someone not on this roster usually plays right wing, and William Nylander has been left wing a lot in preseason. It’s almost like there might be a plan afoot there.

There are three games left, with the final pair a back-to-back. My expectation will be that the “real roster” will roll out for that final game at home on Saturday. But the question is: does Sheldon Keefe want to give his real boys a run at the Habs tomorrow too? Or are both of the road games leading into Saturday going to be the second string?

No cuts have been made so far, beyond sending the juniors to their teams, and the official roster has 42 players on NHL contracts augmented by the AHLers on PTOs and the two actual PTO players. That’s more than enough to continue to run two groups through to the weekend.

Update:

Engvall is taking a full practice.

Calle Järnkrok was unwell, and neither Muzzin nor Engvall will play tomorrow.