After several long months, the NHL has finally come back to a screen near you, and even without fans in attendance, it’s good to see its return.
The Montreal Canadiens entered the Tuesday night showdown with the Toronto Maple Leafs as the last team to squeak into the qualifying round. The game gave Claude Julien a chance to see where his team stands after two weeks of training camp, and begin to fill in his lines for the impending series with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
With the NHL allowing the teams extra skaters for the exhibition game, the Canadiens opted to use Alex Belzile as an extra forward while slotting in Cale Fleury as the seventh defender.