Updates from practice – Apr. 3

BROSSARD - Martin St-Louis' troops were back to work at the CN Sports Complex on Wednesday, following last night’s 5-3 triumph over the Florida Panthers. Given the team’s road-heavy schedule in the second half of March, today marked the first time the Canadiens practiced in Brossard since March 13.

Cayden Primeau will start for Montreal against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, confirmed St-Louis after practice.

Here’s how the Habs forwards lined up this morning:

Kaiden Guhle, Jordan Harris, Johnathan Kovacevic, Mike Matheson, Jayden Struble and Arber Xhekaj formed rotating pairings on the blue line.

Alex Newhook and David Savard did not participate in today’s practice, opting for therapy days instead.

Well ahead of the main on-ice session, Kirby Dach worked with the team’s player development consultant, Paul Byron. The 23-year-old forward has not yet resumed full practice sessions with his teammates.

Coming off Tuesday’s two-goal performance, Nick Suzuki spoke about his season to date following today’s practice.

"I feel really confident in what I can do and what I can bring every single night,” Suzuki told the media. “[I can] play against everybody who we match up against, so I feel very comfortable with where my game’s at right now.”

Arber Xhekaj and Juraj Slafkovsky, weighing a combined 470 lbs according to the Canadiens website, created a stir last night with a sandwich-like hit on the Panthers' Steven Lorentz.

"That’s like a 700-pound collision there. It was heavy on my end. I stepped up and saw [Slafkovsky] behind and... it hurt me,” Xhekaj joked. “It was definitely funny. We had a good laugh after so it’s all good.”

Next on tab for the Canadiens is the Lightning, who visit the Bell Centre on Thursday. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET. For tickets, click here.