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Juraj Slafkovsky lost his spot on the first line

Originally posted on Dose.ca | Last updated Dec 10, 2025 1:55 PM ET

At practice this morning, Martin St-Louis stirred his fruit salad among the forwards. And he led an intense practice.

Juraj Slafkovsky lost his place on the first line to Zachary Bolduc. It’s really all or nothing in Bolduc’s case… but hey: the club is going on the road for two games.

Slaf ended up with Ivan Demidov and Oliver Kapanen.

Caufield – Suzuki – Bolduc
Slaf – Kapanen – Demidov
Texier – Beck (Evans) – Anderson
Gallagher – Veleno – Davidson https://t.co/kBd7yGcfrY

– Marc-Olivier Cook (@Cook_Marco) December 10, 2025

The result? Texier ended up with Josh Anderson and Owen Beck. The latter takes the place of Jake Evans, who missed practice with a foot injury.

Evans is off to Philadelphia for a check-up. And he won’t play tomorrow.

Brendan Gallagher, Joe Veleno, and Jared Davidson are the other three forwards who were present at the club’s regular practice. They skated together.

Will we see these combinations tomorrow?

Defensively speaking, the duos were untouched. This means that Adam Engstrom was the seventh defenseman and the six regulars had their usual places.

And of course, there were three goalies on the ice. Jacob Fowler never left his net and the other two alternated… before Dobes stepped off the main ice. Will Fowler play tomorrow?

You thought the ménage à trois was a thing of the past? pic.twitter.com/me6xqcIrN3

– Anthony Martineau (@Antho_Martineau) December 10, 2025

Basically, this means that the 17 healthy skaters who played yesterday could play tomorrow (so everyone except Evans, who is officially absent for personal reasons) in Pittsburgh.

So much for accountability?

overtime

– Interesting.

Pascal Vincent talks about a deserved recall in the case of Jacob Fowler with the play he offered with the @RocketLaval.

As for handling the pressure of being a starting goalie with the Habs, he had this to say:

“I think mentally he’s very strong.”

– Vincent Demuy (@VDemuy) December 10, 2025

– Logical.

Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton: two very attentive spectators at today’s practice.

Looks like I’m not surprised this morning, with the current context… @DLCoulisses pic.twitter.com/FLOCzCBC6h

– Marc-Olivier Cook (@Cook_Marco) December 10, 2025

– Yeah…