""Nine is a good number," the Canadiens' No. 8 said Saturday in the lee of his club's 3-0 exhibition loss to the visiting Minnesota Wild.

Defenceman Mike Komisarek played in five of Montreal's nine preseason games, which wrapped up with a less-than-inspired effort Saturday against the Wild of wily coach Jacques Lemaire.

The next faceoff is the regular season, Friday in Buffalo against the Sabres.

Komisarek was typically in the mud during his five games, recording 21 hits, including 11 during a 3-2 victory in Detroit, and 22 blocked shots, nine alone in a 3-2 win over Florida.

"You have to feel good about the team," he said, reminders of his work already worn on a battle-scarred face. "But I'd like to see the games in that first week (six in seven nights) spread out a little more, to be honest."

Indeed, the club's preseason was more compact than a Smart car in an auto crusher.

It began with a weekend of practice for 52 players in Pierrefonds, immediately morphed into an 8-3 pasting by Boston two weeks ago tonight in Halifax and wound up with Saturday's listless loss to Minnesota.

Two defeats bookended efforts of good to very good quality that produced six victories and a loss.

At the outset, head coach Guy Carbonneau suggested that his busiest players might see five or so games. But then skaters started falling quicker than the Chicago Cubs, most with mild groin injuries, and were kept out for preventive maintenance.

"Guys played a little more than they would have because of the injuries we had," said forward Christopher Higgins, who nursed a tender groin for a spell, finished with an assist and eight shots in his three games and expects to play on a line with centre Saku Koivu and winger Alex Tanguay.

"Seven out of nine games is more than guys normally would have played," Higgins added. "But everyone is pretty happy that the next game is for real."

Centre Tomas Plekanec and defenceman Josh Gorges each played seven exhibitions, as did freshly farmed rearguard Yannick Weber, a large talent whose dressing-room nameplate might not be mothballed for long.

Plekanec had three goals and four assists and was a horse on faceoffs, unofficially winning close to 70 per cent of his draws. Linemate Andrei Kostitsyn had three goals and five assists in his six games to lead team scoring; Alex Kovalev, the third man on the trio, had a goal and three assists in five games.

In four appearances, goaltender Carey Price had a save percentage of .933 and showed a terrific quickness that comes with a 28-pound summertime weight loss."