The Canadiens had the day off Sunday, but they did make a roster move, calling forward Riley Barber up from the AHL’s Laval Rocket, making the announcement at 5:15 p.m.
In 21 games with the Rocket, Barber had 6-12-18 totals and was minus-6. The Canadiens signed the 25-year-old as a free agent on July 1 after he posted 31-29-60 totals in 64 games last season with the AHL’s Hershey Bears. Barber, who is 6-foot and 198 pounds, was selected by Washington in the sixth round (167th overall) of the 2012 NHL Draft and has only played three career games in the NHL with the Capitals in 2016-17, failing to register a point.
On Saturday, the Canadiens sent forward Charles Hudon down to the Rocket. Hudon had one assist in nine games with the Canadiens after getting called up from Laval, where he had 9-2-11 totals in 17 games.
Barber scored the winning goal and had a team-high six shots in the Rocket’s 4-3 victory over the Springfield Thunderbirds on Saturday. Jake Evans had two goals and an assist for Laval, while Kevin Lynch also scored as the Rocket improved their record to 14-10-3. Goalie Keith Kinkaid stopped 23 of the 25 shots he faced to earn his first victory with the Rocket since being sent down by the Canadiens. Charlie Lindgren started the game in goal, but had to leave the ice with an injury following a collision 8:21 into the first period. On Friday, Kinkaid made 24 saves in a 5-2 loss to the Syracuse Crunch in his first game with the Rocket.
After having the weekend off following Friday night’s 2-1 win over the Rangers in New York, the Canadiens will practise at 10:30 a.m. Monday at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard before flying to Pittsburgh, where they will play the Penguins Tuesday night (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio). The Canadiens will fly back home after that game and play the Ottawa Senators Wednesday night at the Bell Centre (7:30 p.m., SN, RDS, TSN 690 Radio).
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