Evans: Opportunity earned

MONTREAL - Jake Evans has been waiting for this moment.

Currently participating in his third training camp with the Canadiens, the 24-year-old forward appears to have earned his rightful place in the lineup ahead of Wednesday night's season-opener against the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena.
Since the start of camp, the Toronto native has centered the fourth line in between wingers Paul Byron and Artturi Lehkonen.
In short, Evans is primed to seize the opportunity afforded to him by head coach Claude Julien.
"It meant a lot to be given that opportunity off the hop. It's nice to be put in there off the bat, but nothing's given here and you've got to earn everything, so for me it was a nice start, but every day I've been trying to keep that role and earn that job," said Evans, following Sunday's morning skate at the Bell Sports Complex. "There are still a lot of practices left and a lot of days left to improve and to perform, so for me I'm just taking it day by day, but that opportunity has been great."

The University of Notre Dame grad, who was a seventh-round selection (207th overall) in 2014, appeared in 13 regular season games with Montreal last year, registering two goals and three points. He also suited up for six playoff games in the Toronto bubble, collecting one assist.
A capable and dependable trio
The Canadiens' fourth line should give opponents fits this year.
Evans will be flanked by two experienced and fast players, and that speed will undoubtedly be a defining feature of the trio.
"It's a faster game now, and I think that's what our line is. It'll be a lot of speed and a lot of strong plays, and I think we'll be a really hard line to play against if we bring it every game," mentioned Evans. "Those two guys are so good with their sticks. They're very fast, they're just hard guys to play against. I want to help those guys and help bring our line to be one of the hardest lines to play against."
Evans' skating, meanwhile, has drawn significant attention on the South Shore for all the right reasons.
It appears that his effort in that department is paying significant dividends now.
"It's just been improving over the past few years. My first year playing with Laval, I had to pick up my pace a lot," explained Evans. Playing in college, I liked to slow things down and it was a bit eye-opening when I came to Laval, and ever since then I've been trying to work on my skating - and this offseason I was working hard at that. It wasn't really anything specific, but I just trained hard and wanted to feel good when camp started."

The Canadiens' fourth line should provide an offensive punch as well with Byron boasting two 20-goal campaigns on his resume. For his part, Lehkonen has scored at least 10 goals during each of his four seasons in the NHL ranks.
All three players will surely be looking to light the lamp on a regular basis.
"With the speed we have and forcing turnovers and just being hard to play against, I think we'll create a lot of opportunities," stressed Evans. "We won't be getting those fancier goals as some lines, but I think we'll be such a hard line to play against and we can frustrate teams and create a lot of opportunities from that."

The Canadiens will play their second intra-squad game on Sunday night at the Bell Sports Complex.
The contest will be streamed beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET.