Updates from practice - Mar. 20

VANCOUVER – The Canadiens wasted no time getting back to work after last night’s nailbiter against the Edmonton Oilers.

Nick Suzuki, Kaiden Guhle and the rest of the 22 healthy players on the active roster practiced at Rogers Arena on the shores of British Columbia, ahead of tomorrow’s matchup with the Western Conference-leading Vancouver Canucks.

The team announced earlier today that forward Joshua Roy will be out indefinitely after suffering an injury in Tuesday’s overtime loss to the Oilers. Tanner Pearson slotted in for the injured Roy on Montreal’s second power play unit at practice, suggesting he could return to the lineup against his former team tomorrow night.

Canadiens assistant coach Alex Burrows, who played 12 seasons with the Canucks from 2005-2017 and was added to the team’s ring of honor at Rogers Arena on Dec. 3, 2019, addressed the media from his old barn following Wednesday’s practice. He had this to say about Roy’s time in the NHL this season.

“He’s checked every box since he’s been here,” said Burrows. “Coming in, we didn’t really know if we could rely on him on a 200-foot game, but he showed that he can play with anyone against any line.”

“The way he blocked that shot, I think it was an [Evan] Bouchard bomb, he went out of his way, and he really wanted to be in that lane, he didn’t pretend to be in that lane. Those are things you can’t really teach. It comes from within, and Josh has been doing all those things for us ever since he was called up,” continued Burrows.

Thursday’s puck drop is scheduled for 10:00 p.m. ET.