Anderson 'doubtful' in Winnipeg

WINNIPEG - The Canadiens will likely be without one of their top offensive weapons on Saturday night at Bell MTS Place.

Following the morning skate, interim head coach Dominique Ducharme said "the chances are slim" that right-winger Josh Anderson will play in the road trip finale after suffering a lower-body injury in Thursday night's 6-3 defeat.
Being deprived of Anderson's services would be a key loss up front given that he ranks second on the roster with nine goals in 19 games. He also leads the team with 56 hits, so the Habs could be missing an all-important physicality element as well in their quest to snap a four-game winless streak.

Should the 26-year-old Burlington,ON native be unavailable, Ducharme confirmed that Jake Evans would play. Evans was a healthy scratch for Thursday's encounter, missing his first game of the year.
The University of Notre Dame grad took Ducharme's decision to remove him from the lineup in stride, though, and he's eager for the opportunity to suit up again and compete.
"You want to be playing every time, but I completely understood. The explanation I got was just that it's a fresh start and just a new way of doing things," said Evans, who has two goals and three points this season. "One of the biggest things that we talked about the night before the last game was being a good teammate, so that was a big thing for me. I understood and I just wanted to work hard to get my chance to get back in the lineup."

Speaking of hard work, that's exactly what it's going to take from the Canadiens to best Paul Maurice's contingent this time around.
After surrendering a pair of two-goal leads to Winnipeg earlier in the week, Ducharme led his troops through their first full practice under his watch on Friday and took full advantage of Saturday's brief on-ice session as well.
"Every time we'll be going on the ice, everything we'll do will be a reflection of something we want to work on, like something specific to the game," said Ducharme, who is teaching new tactics on the fly amid a condensed schedule. "We approach morning skates like we approach practices. They're not as long and they don't have the same intensity from a physicality standpoint, but there's always a reason why we're doing something on the ice. It's directly related to small details in our game, or structure with or without the puck."

It remains to be seen if the extra effort will pay dividends against the likes of Jets snipers Pierre-Luc Dubois, Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler, among others, but the Habs' new bench boss has high hopes.
"With everything that happened before the last game, in the last few hours before we played, I didn't mind how we reacted at first, but we cracked. We've got a better idea why now, and the players understand a little bit more," insisted Ducharme. "Tonight, I'm confident we'll see those things that we talked about really taking a big step forward on maybe four or five things."
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Mindset will be huge, too, especially when you haven't put up a number in the win column since February 13 and the pressure to right the ship is mounting.
Just ask defenseman Ben Chiarot.
"At this point, it's so important, playing every other day, you can't be reflecting or feeling sorry for yourself on the losses. You have to move forward, you have to be positive and move forward to the next game and not carry the last game with you. After a couple of losses, it can weigh you down and slow you down," mentioned Chiarot. "What's important for our group right now is moving on, just focusing on the next game and not thinking about what's happened over the last 10 days or two weeks. We have to remain positive and come out and just play like we know we can because we know we have a good team."

Goaltender Jake Allen gets the nod in the Manitoba capital, while Carey Price has the night off.
Allen has a 4-2-1 record in seven previous starts, along with a 2.14 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage.
Puck drop is scheduled for 10:00 p.m. ET. You can watch the game on CBC, Sportsnet and TVA Sports, and listen to all the action on TSN Radio 690 and 98,5 fm.