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Defenceman Jordan Harris returns to the lineup, while forward Jesse Ylönen will replace Brendan Gallagher and Jake Allen starts in net.
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Defenceman Arber Xhekaj will be a healthy scratch for the Canadiens when they play the Penguins on Saturday in Pittsburgh (7 p.m., CBC, Citytv, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).
Xhekaj played the previous two games after getting called up from the AHL’s Laval Rocket. Xhekaj had no points and six penalty minutes in those two games, including two minor penalties in Thursday’s 4-3 win over the New York Islanders at the Bell Centre. After the game, head coach Martin St. Louis said he wasn’t happy with Xhekaj’s penalties.
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Jordan Harris, who was a healthy scratch the previous two games, will take Xhekaj’s place in the lineup against the Penguins. Forward Jesse Ylönen, who was a healthy scratch the previous three games, will take Brendan Gallagher’s spot. The NHL suspended Gallagher for five games on Friday, following his five-minute major penalty for elbowing Islanders defenceman Adam Pelech in the head during the third period of Thursday’s game.
Jake Allen will be in goal for the Canadiens. This will be Allen’s third start in the last seven games as the Canadiens continue with their three-goalie rotation, including Samuel Montembeault and Cayden Primeau. Allen allowed three goals on 27 shots in his last start, a 4-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre. Allen has a 5-9-2 record with a 3.46 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage.
This will be the Canadiens’ final game before enjoying a bye week in the schedule. They won’t play again until Tuesday, Feb. 6, when they visit the Washington Capitals.
When asked by reporters in Pittsburgh after Saturday’s morning skate why Xhekaj was coming out of the lineup, head coach Martin St. Louis noted the team has seven healthy defenceman and it’s a competitive league.
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“You never want to be out of the lineup and it just makes you hungrier to be playing,” Harris told reporters in Pittsburgh after the morning skate. “It’s like coming back from summer break when you haven’t played in a little bit. There’s nothing worse than watching your own team play, but I think there’s things that you can learn. You can learn about yourself, you can learn about the team, learn about what you can do better as a player. I think you have to take all those things into consideration and just make sure you’re prepared and doing the right things so that when you come back it’s as seamless as possible.”
Harris has 1-5-6 totals and a minus-4 differential in 29 games this season.
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Xhekaj spoke with reporters after practice Friday in Brossard before the Canadiens flew to Pittsburgh.
“I think I started off pretty well and once I got two penalties there I was kind of hurting the team a little bit,” Xhekaj said about his performance against the Islanders. “So I got to figure out how to stay out of the box.
“They let me play and they want me to play my game,” Xhekaj added about the Canadiens’ coaching staff. “But they don’t want me to put the boys on the penalty-kill. Some of those calls maybe in the minors they wouldn’t call that. But I think they’re calling that now, so I got to find a balance and not take too many penalties.”
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Xhekaj said he apologized to the coaching staff for his second penalty against the Islanders. The first penalty he took was at 14:44 of the first period for high-sticking and the second was at 13:40 of the second period for interference.
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“I reached out to (the coaches) and I apologized for that (second) penalty,” Xhekaj said Friday. “There was no need for that. We were up 3-0 and I kind of made a bad turnover at the blue line and got a penalty on that. Those two (penalties) are definitely preventable. They were great. They just said shake it off and today is a new day and have a good practice and don’t think about it too much.”
In 19 games with the Canadiens this season, Xhekaj has 1-2-3 totals and is plus-2. In 17 games with the Rocket, he had 3-8-11 totals and was plus-3.
“I’m young, I’m learning and I’m always looking to improve my game,” the 22-year-old Xhekaj said. “Obviously, there’s times where you need to do a little more in the offensive zone and there’s times I think where less is more. I’m still figuring it out. I think I’m young.”
Saturday’s game will be the 1,000th in the NHL for former Canadien Lars Eller, who is now with the Penguins. He will be honoured during a pregame ceremony.
scowan@postmedia.com
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