When the Stanley Cup Final shifts to Montreal for Games 3 and 4, the Canadiens expect to have coach Dominique Ducharme back behind their bench.

Ducharme was required by provincial protocol in Quebec to isolate for 14 days after testing positive for the coronavirus. That two-week period ends Friday, just in time for Game 3 against the Tampa Bay Lightning that night.

Canadiens players say Ducharme has actively participated in meetings virtually while assistant Luke Richardson handles the daily duties in person.

“He’s involved in the process,” defenseman Jon Merrill said Wednesday. “Not obviously as much as he was before he got struck with COVID, but he’s definitely still a big part of this team and we look forward to seeing him when we get back to Montreal.”

Lightning Coach Jon Cooper said he empathizes with Ducharme missing out on the opportunity to coach the first two games of his first final.

“I know personally it would be killing you inside to miss the grandest ball of them all, and that’s the Stanley Cup final,” said Cooper, who is coaching in his third. “This is a time you should enjoy, and for him to have a team be in the final and not be part of it, I feel for him, even if he’s the competition. You want a team to have its full slate of players and the entire coaching staff. You really want guys to experience this and one day tell their kids, ‘I coached in the Stanley Cup final.’ ”

BLACKHAWKS: Chicago captain Jonathan Toews revealed Wednesday that he missed this past season while dealing with what he described as chronic immune response syndrome.

I wasn’t too vocal about the things I went through this year. I appreciate the understanding and support and wanted to share this message on where I’m at. pic.twitter.com/3qgftKki10

— Jonathan Toews (@JonathanToews) June 30, 2021

Toews revealed his diagnosis for the first time in a video released on social media. The video showed him skating at the team’s practice facility, though it was not clear when he was on the ice.

“I just think there’s a lot of things that just kind of piled up where my body just fell apart,” Toews said. “I just couldn’t quite recover and my immune system was reacting to everything. any kind of stress — anything that I would do throughout the day there was always kind of that stress response, so it took some time.”

Toews in late December said he was feeling symptoms that left him feeling “drained and lethargic.” The team said at the time Toews was sidelined indefinitely by an undisclosed illness.

LIGHTNING: Tampa Bay Coach Jon Cooper ruled out forward Alex Killorn for Game 2 Wednesday night and called Tampa Bay’s fourth-leading scorer “day to day in the series” because of an undisclosed injury. Killorn blocked a shot from Montreal defenseman Jeff Petry in the second period of Game 1 Monday night and only skated one shift in the third before leaving the bench.

Killorn has eight goals and nine assists in the playoffs, and only three total players have more points than his 17. He’s a key part of Tampa Bay’s power play and penalty kill.

“He brings immense value,” Cooper said. “He plays multiple special teams, he kills penalties for us, he’s on the top power play unit, he can check for us, he chips in on the goal scoring side of things. He’s a depth, veteran player you can depend on game in and game out.”

Mathieu Joseph and Mitchell Stephens are among the forward options, or Cooper could go back to dressing 11 with seven defensemen.

“It’s the playoffs: Guys are in and out,” Cooper said. “You lose guys all the time.”

COYOTES: Arizona is hiring veteran NHL assistant and junior coach Andre Tourigny as head coach, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the official announcement won’t come until a Thursday morning news conference.

Tourigny replaces Rick Tocchet, who was fired May 9 after the Coyotes failed to reach the playoffs for the seventh time in eight seasons.

The 47-year-old Tourigny has spent the past four seasons as coach and vice president of hockey operations for the Ottawa 67s in the junior Ontario Hockey League. He previously served as an assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche and Ottawa Senators.

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