Nick Suzuki Practices With Team In Full Contact Jersey

Prior to their practice on October 22, the Montreal Canadiens announced that they had recalled Oliver Beck and that their captain Nick Suzuki would miss the next two to four weeks with an upper-body injury. Following practice that day, Suzuki’s linemate, Juraj Slafkovsky, confirmed the injury occurred when Nick Suzuki blocked a shot from Sharks defenseman Michael Kesselring late in the Canadiens’ 4-3 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks on October 20.

“Oh you guys know?” Juraj Slafkovsky replied when asked about the Suzuki injury news after practice on October 22.

“Yeah, blocked a shot,” a reporter asked.

“Yeah,” Slafkovsky confirmed.

“We can’t do anything about it. We just gotta wait and fight for him. Just be ready for the games; be ready to play hard and win games when he’s not playing so when he comes back, we’re in a good spot.”

Thanks to some amazing performances from rookie goalie Jacob Fowler, the Montreal Canadiens have now gone 5-0-0 in Suzuki’s absence. Thursday would mark two weeks since the Canadiens gave their prognosis on Nick Suzuki so there’s a chance now that if he plays on Tuesday night against the Winnipeg Jets at the Bell Centre, Suzuki would be playing ahead of schedule.

Kirby Dach (illness) did not practice with the Canadiens on Monday.

Here’s what the lineup looked like on Monday morning:

Forwards:

Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Juraj Slafkovsky 

Chris Kreider – Jake Evans – Josh Anderson

Zach Bolduc – Phillip Danault – Alexandre Texier

Alex Newhook – Oliver Kapanen – Owen Beck/Florian Xhekaj

Defense:

Lane Hutson – Noah Dobson

Alexandre Carrier – Kaiden Guhle

Adam Engstrom  – Arber Xhekaj  

Goalies:

Jacob Fowler

Jakub Dobes