WPG@MTL: Enter Otto Leskinen

BROSSARD - Defenseman Otto Leskinen is making his season debut with the Canadiens tonight against the Jets.

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It will mark the 24-year-old undrafted Finn's first taste of NHL action since December 2019 when he played five straight games for Montreal.
Paired with rookie Alexander Romanov during Saturday's morning skate, Leskinen has enjoyed a solid campaign with the AHL's Laval Rocket, leading the club's blueliners with 14 points (1 goal, 13 assists) in 23 games. His plus-13 differential is also a team-high
Interim head coach Dominique Ducharme is hoping to see Leskinen play the kind of hockey that proved beneficial for Laval in their outstanding start to the year.
"We want to see him use his tools in the same way that he did with the Rocket. He's had a great start to the season. He's been consistent, he's been skating well and moving the puck well," praised Ducharme, who made Victor Mete a healthy scratch in favor of the Pieksamaki native. "He's also been doing good work defensively. We want to see where he's at."

To put Leskinen's contributions into perspective from a production standpoint, the former Finnish Elite League standout currently ranks first in shots, second in assists and fifth in points among all AHL rearguards.
With stats like that, it's no wonder that veteran defenseman Jeff Petry would encourage him to stick to his formula with the big club.
"Every time you're getting called up for the first time, just play simple, but don't change the style of play just because of the jump. You've got to play the same way you've played to get you to this point, and I think that's the most important thing," insisted Petry, when asked what advice he'd offer a player in Leskinen's position right now. "Don't overcomplicate things, but continue playing the way that got you here."
'We need a bounce-back game'
The first minute of the game hasn't been kind to the Canadiens in their last two outings.
After surrendering a goal at the 54-second mark in Toronto on Wednesday, Winnipeg scored only 18 seconds into the first period on Thursday night at the Bell Centre.
Even though Ducharme's troops responded a short time later on both occasions, they're well aware that trailing from the outset isn't a recipe for success.
"We need a bounce-back game, that's for sure. We need to come out and have a great start. That hasn't been there the last couple of games," said right-winger Josh Anderson, who has 20 points (14 goals, 6 assists) in 34 games on the year. "What's going to control the game tonight is that first shift and making sure we get all four lines going at the same time and keep working at it."

"Consistency" is a word that came up a couple of times during the pregame media availability - and with good reason - since losing streaks of any kind are trouble with only 19 games to go.
Ducharme doesn't want to see his players be their own worst enemy again after making costly mental mistakes earlier in the week that led to back-to-back defeats.
"We hurt ourselves on things that we know we can control. That's the mental part that I'm talking about, and we need to become consistent there. If you look at the 60 minutes, I thought we played well, but we shot ourselves in the foot and we paid cash," said Ducharme. "That we can control. Those are the things that we just need to clean up."
With that in mind, Anderson stressed the importance of coming out hard in the rematch versus Winnipeg, who've won five of the seven matchups so far this year.
Given what transpired over the last 120 minutes of play, this isn't the time to sit back.
"We all know what job we have here. It's the best job in the world, so you've got to come to work every day and be focused and dialed in and pay attention to little details that we go over in video every day, and just bring that on the ice and make sure that you're ready to go every night," mentioned Anderson. "I think that's going to be a big factor. We don't have many games left here, so we've got to treat every game like it's a playoff game and go from there."
Ducharme's a Caufield fan
Prospect Cole Caufield's pro debut on Friday night with Laval was memorable in every conceivable way.
Shortly after winning the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in the NCAA this season, the 20-year-old winger scored twice and added an assist for the Rocket in their road victory over the Toronto Marlies.

Caufield, who led the nation with 52 points (30 goals, 22 assists) in 31 games at Wisconsin, definitely caught Ducharme's attention with his offensive output for Joël Bouchard's squad.
"I think the kid can score goals. You can see it. He's special around the net. The kid can shoot the puck, for sure," said Ducharme. "He did a lot of good things and it's good to see that he can adjust. That's not a bad way to start."
Caufield and the Rocket will battle the Marlies again this afternoon at 3:00 p.m. ET.
The game will be broadcast on RDS.