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St. Louis keeps the faith as season opener nears

LANCE HORNBY

The Toronto Maple Leafs expect to finish ahead of the Montreal Canadiens again this year, but hold no lead when it comes to pre-season storylines nine days ahead of the real thing.

That started in Montreal with the about-face on drafting Juraj Slafkovsky first overall after months of Shane Wright hype, the drama playing out right in the Bell Centre.

Slafkovsky has yet to score in two games and the word ‘underwhelming’ has been mentioned so far, with general manager Kent Hughes not ruling out an autumn stint in the AHL for the Slovak.

In August came the disappointing news that stalwart stopper Carey Price was not expected to try another comeback from ongoing knee issues, complicated by last year’s decision to take time off for mental rest.

If the 35-year-old plays again, it’s believed another surgery will be needed. Reliable defenceman Joel Edmundson will miss time with back problems, too.

Forward Josh Anderson missed time with an upperbody injury that turned out to be a finger infection from a suspected spider bite.

Those setbacks were balanced with last week’s signing of Jake Allen to a two-year extension, the goalie maintaining his belief that good times are just around the corner.

Along with Slafkovsky, new blood includes former Calgary Flames forward Sean Monohan, and three defencemen, 20-year-old Kaiden Guhle, Halifax's Justin Barron (five games last year after the former first rounder from Colorado came over) and possibly, the mystery mountain man Arber Xhekaj.

The Canadiens, who faced the Toronto Maple Leafs in pre-season action on Monday night, have yet to claim victory in four exhibitions, not that they count in the standings.

“Winning is part of the morale a bit, but it’s tricky,” head coach Martin St. Louis said Monday morning.

“How do you measure success? If you only think you’re winning when you actually get the result you want, you get lost in the process a. bit.

“For us, if I started at Day One to where we are now (replacing Dominique Ducharme as the bottom fell out), the picture from 10,000 feet up (is) we’re winning.

“The players are engaged. We’re creating an environment in our practices and they enjoy it. Every day leading up to that are important days. Every game speaks to us.”

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2022-10-04T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-10-04T07:00:00.0000000Z

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